Redemption
by Firestar'sniece
Summary: A few months have passed since Seth and Sara were adopted by Jack Bruno and Alex Friedman and they're as happy as could be. Things have changed for them, perhaps to the better. But they soon find it's too good... Full summary inside. Sequel to Starchild.
1. Chapter 1: Home Sweet Home

**Full summary:_ A few months have passed since Seth and Sara were adopted by Jack Bruno and Alex Friedman and they're as happy as could be. Things have changed for them, perhaps to the better. But they soon find it's too good to be true for soon various problems begin developing one after another, leaving the family wondering if there will ever be a happily ever after for them. Sequel to Starchild._**

**_Please note that this story will not be as emotionally strong or intense as the first story. There will be some emotion, though nothing like in the first story, and the emotions are primarily because Seth and Sara still have some things to work out emotionally from what they've been through. But this story will be more upbeat and I'm planning on putting hopefully more humor into it.  
><em>**

**I don't own Race to Witch Mountain, The Forbidden Kingdom, The Nine lives of Chloe King, the Jacuzzi brand, or Samsung.**

**Please note this is not a true crossover. I'm using none of the characters from the other things, only made up characters of their species.**

Chapter one: Home Sweet Home

(Seth Point of View)

Seth was delighted. His sixteenth birthday was coming up, and from the excited glances his adoptive parents Jack and Alex were casting him, they were planning something big. But he wasn't sure how big.

But Seth was no ordinary person. For one he was from outer space, and that was a known fact. Because that was so well known, he was a celebrity and had to dodge cameras practically every day as the reporters being a nuisance asked him all sorts of questions, including about his personal life that he didn't want to talk about. And paparazzi were getting worse since the news had leaked out somehow that his birthday was coming up. He figured it was someone at school that had overheard him talking with Alana about it.

And he wasn't happy about it. Before, he was going to have a private birthday party with his friends, mother, father, and sister (who was his full-blooded sister, and thus an alien and celebrity like him), but now the media was badgering him, and badgering Jack and Alex to hold at least another party that was more public were he could invite certain people, and certain fans to attend. Jack and Alex weren't happy about it at first, and neither was Seth. In fact, they told the reporters to practically shut their mouths, and that it wasn't their decision what they did and didn't do.

Well, you know how that goes, when you tell a reporter off who is bugging you about something in an upsetting way; they blow it way out of proportion. The following day the news stations all over the globe were reporting that Jack Bruno, Seth's father, was aggressive and mad, having anger issues. Seth shivered when he thought about it. Well, they had provoked Jack, and they were stalking them. Weren't they ever going to publish that part of the story? How about the part where they trespassed (which is highly illegal) on their property and land practically every day and took pictures of them (which made the pictures illegal)? Were they ever going to mention that? Well of course not! One thing about reporters Seth learned was that they never wanted to make themselves look bad. If anything, they wanted to seem like the victim. They always acted so innocent, and they always edited things to make it look like they were innocent and the other person was guilty. This was why Seth had come to hate the paparazzi. Well, no, not hate. Hate was too strong a word. It was more like dislike, or a mild detest, though he never showed it in public. How could he? If he did he was sure that the next day they'd paint him as hostile, and that was the last thing he needed people to think he was - a hostile alien.

But that didn't deter Jack from getting even. If there was anything Jack was cleverly good about, it was getting even. You see, Jack had more than enough evidence to get the reporters and paparazzi arrested for trespassing if he wanted to, but he had been lenient before. So the next day he published the videos (since he had HD hidden secret security cameras that always gave clear footage on his property for a number of reasons) and then he published the video that showed him telling the reporters to shut it which had luckily taken place on their property. Then he brought a lawsuit against all the reporters and paparazzi that had done this, and their companies, and he won! So nowadays, they stayed further away. Though that didn't stop every single person in the news business from all being disgraced in the eyes of the citizens of all the countries. In fact, new news stations had popped up that didn't stalk celebrities, and new rules and laws were made and enforced. After all, if you couldn't take photographs or videos of an ordinary person without their permission, why should you do it to a celebrity? Now that's double standards!

And so there went out a law about double standards, effectively shutting down the businesses of the reporters and paparazzi, (since no one wanted to watch them anymore, such was their disgrace) and new news stations stations popped up that heeded these laws. They never took a photograph or picture without someone's permission, even a celebrity, for they knew they would be heavily fined and their station would be shut down for it. And the reporters and paparazzi who had done such a thing previously ironically never found jobs in the industry again. After all, no one would hire them. And so they had a hard time finding jobs, and they had to go back to school for different careers. That was the end of it.

But even though they couldn't take pictures or videos of Seth, Sara, Jack, and Alex without their permission, that didn't stop them from acting on what they had learned from the previous disgraced reporters, and demanding that Seth and Sara have a public party where news reporters and paparazzi and photographers could hold a photo shoot, and thus get some good pictures and videos of them. This annoyed Seth more than ever. After all that he's been through, couldn't they respect him and his sister and leave them alone? But of course not! They wanted to know everything about him, everything he was doing at every part of the day! They truly were stalkers!

And what was even worse was that after all the demands of a public birthday party Seth thought he saw Jack and Alex beginning to cave.

Seth was currently in his room, a splendidly big room inside a mansion, with three closets. The closets were sliding closets made of a dark wood. The door was also made of wood but they had allowed Seth and Sara to have them painted to make them look how they wanted. And so Seth did his best to paint green and blue grass-like things on there, plants from his home world.

He had nine huge bookshelves in a separate massive room, filled with earth books that he had come to love, for he had gotten into reading. In fact, it looked like a separate room for you had to use a door to get to it, but in the end it was part of his room for one could only get to it from his room. The only other bookshelf in there was practically bare as the only things on it were his alien technologies that he had with him, that Henry Burke and Mary Burke, his aunt and uncle, had sent back to him after taking it away from him when they had abducted him. He kept it safely in that room where there were no windows and the door that led to that room was kept locked.

Very few had keys to it. Not even Sara had a key to it, or the people that cleaned his room, so he had to clean it every week by himself, for if he didn't keep it clean then Jack and Alex would be somewhat upset and he didn't want to upset them. They had done too much for him. But he liked the room. Only he, Jack Bruno, and Jack's wife Alex Friedman had keys to it. It was his personal library. Similarly, Seth didn't have a key to Sara's personal library in her room, but she, Jack, and Alex did. She also had to keep it clean by herself. And Seth and Sara didn't have keys to the two personal libraries of Jack and Alex. Jack was the only one with a key to his library, and Alex was the only one with the key to her library. But there might have been a spare key somewhere for the two of them since another key was needed in case they lost their keys. But Seth didn't know where they were. It was probably hidden.

There was also a closet that held his many clothes, top brands, that Jack and Alex had bought him. Jack and Alex always made sure to keep him and Sara in style so that they wouldn't be teased. Seth had now over a hundred outfits, as for a while Jack and Alex each had bought each of them an outfit every week, sometimes two outfits, two from Jack, and two from Alex. And so their clothing had accumulated. The only outfit that they had stashed away that they never looked at was their white scrubs, the ones they had worn while they were abducted by their aunt and uncle and practically experimented on, or used, as Henry had called them 'procedures'. But Seth didn't honestly see the difference between the two. He preferred not to think about it.

Seth also had a computer desk with a top brand laptop on it that he never used, as he liked using his more advanced technologies better. Then there was a larger closet that he changed in, that looked more like a vast hallway. Then there was his bathroom, that was large with a huge luxurious tub that could be used as a Jacuzzi or a jet tub (which he utilized as such in times of extreme stress, as he was always stressed out) and which had holes in the roof which acted as his shower. The floor was tiled with white marble tiles, and the elaborate two toilets and two sinks in his bathroom were high tech, well, high tech for humans. After all for him it was simple.

The bathroom looked spacious, though it was also separated. In one "section" it held his elaborate jet bath tub and in another section, closest to the door, it held his high tech toilet with a green like cloth on the lid, and his marble counter top with the shining bright silver sink in it, a shining metal facet above it. He didn't need to turn the knobs as it came on the moment he put his hands underneath it. Only the other sink had handles that turned for the water, which he could use if the power went out as this facet would then be useless, thus why he had two facets.

On the wall beside the facet hung a green plush towel for drying his hands as the other towels for bathing were near his jacuzzi. Above the marble counter top there was a large mirror. On the opposite end there was a barrier, basically a wall, that had a mirror the whole way through, and behind the barrier was another elaborate space with the exact same sink and toilet minus the high tech stuff, so it would operate if the power went out, with a mirror there also above the sink and one on the whole length of the wall that acted as the barrier. But in this section there was an elaborately carved door, that had carvings of strange plants on it (as Seth had designed it, he and Sara turned out to be pretty good artists) that led to one of his closets with clothes in it, which then led to the main part of his room.

Then, also in Seth's room, there was a room that held all his shoes. Seth winced when he thought of how many shoes Jack, Alex, and even Alana had bought him and Sara. Combined they probably had more than years' worth. And so he wore a different pair of shoes every day, never reusing them.

One part of his room held file cabinets, which Seth didn't understand why Jack and gotten it for him. He never used it. Then another part of the room was filled with paintings that Jack had let Seth pick out from a local gallery. He chose a local artist, and because he had bought her paintings she soared to celebrity status overnight. Now her paintings and other artwork sold for even more, and she wasn't able to paint enough as they were bought up practically instantly.

Such was the effect Jack, Alex, Sara, and Seth had on people. If they bought certain things then other people wanted to buy what they bought. It annoyed the whole family though. Once Jack had complained when they were having dinner as to why people couldn't develop their own styles. But none of them complained that they had ever bought Artemis Kenya's paintings, for which she had soared to celebrity status, for she was having a hard time making enough money to survive on, as she was poverty stricken and couldn't go to college for it. For she never could get any scholarships and no one wanted to hire her, and they knew that their endorsing of her paintings had given her a new life that she needed and had never dreamed of. Now she wouldn't have to worry about starving anymore, as they had found out recently that she had done so many times because she didn't have enough money to put food on the table.

And so she became a family friend, and was often invited over for food. And she would do paintings and artwork and home designing for them. But with her new life came stress as demands on her work became overwhelming. Finally she put her foot down, and only put her work in the galleries, and said that she would accept very few to do personal requests of artwork for them. The rest would have to buy her work from the gallery. Seth's family was one of the rare exceptions.

Such was her tale and now she had enough money to go to college. She also now had a job as a waiter (which she didn't need because she was a $360 millionaire, but she did it for experience and because she liked the feeling of being employed rather than self-employed) and because of that, the restaurant had become famous and was now rated a five star. And then when Seth and his family started frequenting there the restaurant's status had soared to impossible levels. Now there was a long waiting list, but there were of course, exceptions. Celebrities were the exception, though because Seth and his family didn't like double standards they chose to be on the waiting list, thus they put they made several reservations long in advance. This was one of the places Seth was sure they were taking him for his birthday, as he thought he'd heard Artemis mention that their names were on the list that day.

The only other part of Seth's bedroom was his gorgeous poster bed, which was king sized, and was all for him. It was rather roomy, which Seth liked. They had gotten this bed to replace his other one as a way to spoil him and comfort him after all that he'd been through. It was an expensive top of the brand bed, with flat and puffy pillows, and red covers with green leaves on them (custom made) and other sheets that were necessary for the bed.

And thus, if you knew Seth's room, you knew Sara's room, for it was practically the same thing with a little variations that showed Sara's personal style. It was the same thing for Jack and Alex's room, except it was the size of Seth and Sara's room combined as it was the master bedroom. Each room was on a different level, and Jack and Alex's room took up the whole level, whereas Seth and Sara's only took up a half a level. Jack and Alex's were the same as Seth and Sara's room except that it was twice as big and had twice as many "rooms" or more appropriately called sections, with a little variations to show each of their styles. If you put Seth and Sara's room side by side, which were identical practically, and made a door between them, that was what Jack and Alex's room looked like.

Because his room and the whole mansion for that matter was so big it surely would have been hard to keep maintaining it and keeping it clean, thus Seth was glad that Jack had hired personal maids and other cleaning crew and such to help with the work, though he and Alex assigned them chores as well so that they wouldn't get lazy and would learn responsibility, and so that they wouldn't turn spoiled which Seth suspected was one of the reasons though they had never actually said so much. And so, the boy cleaned his own toilets every week, and the bathtubs and sinks, leaving the rest to the maids. Then he and the rest of the family rotated on doing the dishes and such.

They also now had a personal cook who got paid really well, but on his days off Alex would cook. And on those days she's insist that Seth and Sara help them so that they could learn how for when they were on their own someday. Seth enjoyed this time with his mother. It was comforting.

Right now Seth was lying on his bed in deep thought, thinking about his past and what had changed. He thought about his home planet and then turned his thoughts away from it, as he didn't want to think on anything that might cause him to get too emotional.

Suddenly, there was a soft knock on his bedroom door. "We'd like you to come downstairs now, Seth," Alex called to him and Seth slowly sat up, blinking the sleepy state that he'd been feeling out of his eyes. Seth was wearing jeans with gold-decorated pockets (and yes, it was real gold for it was given to him by a famous fashion designer who wanted him to endorse her clothing) with a green and blue checkered flannel shirt that buttoned up on the front.

He sighed. "Coming Alex!" he called out to her. The nice thing about Jack and Alex was that because they were friends first before they ever became their parents they allowed them to continue to call them by their first names. They didn't have to call them mom and dad, though Seth and Sara would do that sometimes as a sign of appreciation. But above everything, they weren't parents first. They were best friends first, and then parents last and later.

Seth walked to the door and opened the lightweight carved doorway, stepping out onto a carpet that was different from his room. While his was flat and a dark bluish color, this carpet was fluffy and red, and the plush feeling was delightful to Seth. The hallways had white walls, as Jack wouldn't let Alex have them painted any other color, much to the rest of the family's disappointment, and it stretched out right and left in front of Seth. Wired frames with photographs in them were everywhere on the walls, and to the left in the distance there was a large bullet-proof glass window that had metal sections in it.

Seth headed right, down the straight but vast hallway. It was so wide that he could spread his arms out wide standing next to someone doing the same thing and their hands and fingertips wouldn't touch, neither would either of them be able to touch the walls on either side. The ceiling was made of a smooth material, but every five feet there was an electricity and cost efficient chandelier made of tiny glass bulbs. They generally never used these except during family parties, even though it lit up the place a whole lot and didn't cost that much to operate. Instead, they used the regular bulb lights that were built into the ceiling and cast just as much light and was just as cost efficient. Seth knew that at each end of the hallway there were two switches, one for the chandeliers and one for the regular lights. But because of the light seeping in through the window behind him, he didn't need to use them.

Seth's room was so big that it was the whole length of the hallway to his right. There was one door to his true room, and one door to his, well, closet, which was part of his room. On the opposite side of the hallway were large (but certainly not as large as his) guest quarters so that if Seth had company over they would be able to have their own rooms on his level. There were four large rooms total, larger than any room in the average high middle class home.

This level belonged to Seth, as each member of the family had their own level. There were several other levels to, built in much the same manner, with one giant room, and four large rooms, and these were considered guest quarters. And that was only on this wing of the house. Seth reached a winding staircase was to the left of Seth in the hallway he was in, and was large and led to the different levels. This interrupted the continuous line of rooms on that side of the hallway. But if he continued down to the end of the massive hallway there would be a winding ramp going the whole way up and down, designed for someone who was in a wheelchair. Seth was still amazed that the thought and detail Jack and Alex had put into this house when they had bought the property and had the mansion built for them.

Seth traveled all the way down the winding staircase, framed pictures seen along the walls the whole way through, most of them of Seth and Sara, to the boy's embarrassment, and when he reached downstairs he was in a large living room. It could have the the size of a small house combined! Six large green leather couches were on the other end with footrests for each cushion spaced some way away from the couch. Six matching green leather chairs and three green leather love seats were on either side of the couches, facing the side Seth was on.

The boy knew that the couches faced a large fireplace that could keep the whole mansion warm, and above the humongous marble and wood mantelpiece that had a lot of clay pottery animals in different positions on it (made by none other than Artemis) was a massively large flat-screen TV, that the family spent some time watching TV and movies together. The TV was a custom made Samsung with a green and blue marble look to it. There was a small coffee table that stood between the chairs and the fireplace, but that was about it. The carpet was the same as the staircase, which was the same as that of all the hallways that housed their private rooms and guest quarters, a fluffy, plushy deep red colored carpet. The walls were white (of course, Seth was thinking about asking Jack that as a birthday gift they change that, for Alex's sake, but he didn't get the courage and he didn't want to spend some time in a hotel like last time they renovated for the paparazzi would be able to see him more then) and Seth rolled his eyes at this.

The room was partially enclosed on both sides, with an opening to another room on the other end, but Seth chose to go left, through an opening that led to the huge dining room and through which in order to get to he had passed under an arched opening. Everyone was already seated.

The room was also huge, and it had a very large wooden dining table in the middle. There was a glass cabinet on the end of the room facing him that held white china painted with thin blue stripes. They were only shown on display for there were only certain occasions that they used the china on. One of them was birthdays. They would have cake on the china.

To the right of the glass cabinet was another arched opening which he knew led to the kitchen. One couldn't see the kitchen from the dining room for it was separated from the dining room by a wall, though the kitchen was huge.

To Seth's left there were again, framed photographs of him and Sara on the wall, but at least on the right, there were paintings by Artemis. She did a lot of landscapes and animals and weather and such, and her artwork was realistic, bright, and colorful, and overall, beautiful. In fact they looked more like HD photographs, that was how good she was. On the wall behind him he knew that there were also huge photographs but at least this time it was family portraits. That was better than just solely featuring him and Sara, so he tolerated it every time.

The chairs to the dining tables had huge thick cushions on the seat and the back, and Seth sat down one of them. Sara, Jack, and Alex were already there. All of them were wearing jeans, but Sara was wearing a light blue t-shirt with a purple vest on top. She had on a couple of gold necklaces and she had chosen to wear make up for the very first time. No doubt Alex had to help her with that. But she looked even more beautiful with it.

Speaking of Alex, the woman was wearing a yellow tank top with a neckline that on another might look as if it was choking them, being very near her neck and throat, but had a denim jacket over it to cover her shoulders which would otherwise be bare. There were many pockets and designed symbols on it. The zipper was painted to look gold and it also had a way to button it up. But she left it open. The jacket was short and if she was wearing only it, it would immodestly show her midriff. But the yellow tank top was long and went over her pants, but was too short to be considered a dress, thus it was a shirt. Alex was also wearing a couple of necklaces, and they were intricately weaved chains that hung from her neck.

Jack was wearing thick jeans designed by the same designer as the rest of them, but he had a on a dark blue shirt and had a thin leather jacket over it, wearing no necklaces or any other ornaments. But the jacket was bordered with a gold-colored thread. He and Seth may have been dressed the most plainly but they certainly looked classy.

Their styles were certainly different than before as Jack Bruno and his wife Alex Friedman, who had chosen to keep her name (not bothering Jack one bit, in fact he preferred this because he couldn't imagine her name being anything other than Alex Friedman, it had a certain charm to hit) now had a lot of money each and wanted their children to have the best of whatever they received.

There was food on the table. A plate held some toast and there were a few jars with jam in them. A skillet with a hot pad underneath it had a lot of bacon in it, not burnt thankfully, meaning Jack hadn't cooked it, as the man usually liked cooking the bacon whenever they had any, and another skillet on the same huge hot pad that had scrambled yellow fluffy eggs in it. In a basket covered with a cloth there was some biscuits with butter beside it. It was a perfect breakfast.

Immediately when Seth sat down Jack smiled warily. "Um, Seth," he began slowly, as if he didn't want to have this particular conversation. "You know your birthday coming up? And the party attached to it?"  
>Seth immediately froze when he heard this. 'Don't tell me,' he thought to himself.<p>

"Well," Jack continued, after glancing at Alex who was suddenly focused on spreading jam onto her toast. "We've decided that it's not a bad idea at all to have a public party. After all, they'll keep pestering us if we don't."

Seth groaned upon hearing this and let his head fall onto his plate, though thankfully there was no food on it. "I don't want a public party!" Seth complained.

Alex sighed and put her toast down. "It's not technically going to be a public party," she reassured him. "You'll be the one inviting people, but it will be inviting people that you don't truly know. You need to invite a couple of reporters, some photographers, and maybe even a couple of other celebrities. The rest can be your friends, who will also be attending your private birthday party."

"They'll bring their camera's and such!" Seth continued to whine, not looking up, his head in his plate.

Alex frowned. "We'll have security guards and we'll make sure that it's on the invitation that no technology is allowed on the premises. If we catch them with it they need to know that they'll be kicked out. And anything they capture will be illegal photographs and video footage since we've specifically stated that those things aren't allowed on the premises. We could have them arrested if it happens."

"They'll ask questions about our therapy!" Seth whined more. The kids had been going to therapy because of the state of their emotions after the whole abduction ordeal. But no one liked talking about it. "And they'll be asking about our powers!" he complained more.

When Henry and Mary had kidnapped them, they had had a "procedure" done that essentially took away their abilities. It was an excruciatingly painful process, even though they were under heavy anesthetic, and the effect lasted for about a year. Seth and Sara were only beginning to gain their abilities back which had been cruelly taken away from them, which abilities they had inherited from their birth parents Emily and Jared Frontier. Jared was able to read minds like Sara and heal quickly like Seth while Emily had telekinesis like Sara and phasing or an ability to control her molecular density like Seth. However, Jared's mind reading powers were nowhere near as powerful as Sara's but they were more easily controlled. He could only read the minds of those he was blood-related to. And Mary, Seth and Sara's half aunt as the woman was Emily's half-sister, had the ability to teleport and telekinesis, as the kids had only found out a week ago. But she rarely used it for she wanted to hide the fact that she had that ability, and she didn't care for being related to aliens. To her, that ability only reminded her of what she was related to. Her children had inherited her teleporting ability, (Coraline also had this, thus the children thought they got it from her when they were held captive by her) and the telekinesis and molecular density powers.

As their minds were healing from the process they had endured, they were beginning to experience the beginning of their powers and were working hard to learn to control them, much like they had had to do when they had first started developing their powers. But this time it was easier since they had learned how to do so before. But this time they didn't have help either, if something went wrong and they needed help learning, though the kids were confident that they could learn to control their powers like before without help. Frankly, the children were excited to have their powers back. But they were also discovering that they had other powers now because of the procedures Henry and Mary had forced on them. They shuddered at these abilities. They didn't want them because it was forced on them. But they had no choice but to develop them so that they could control them, because a rogue ability that wasn't controlled could be very dangerous to the person, or even others. And what was worse was that they might need help to get control of these abilities, meaning that they would have to go to their Aunt Mary and Uncle Henry for help. Seth wasn't looking forward to that, even though he did love them and miss them. But it was too soon to go back.

"I don't like the personal questions they ask," Seth stated plainly, as if that could change the situation.

Alex started gently rubbing his back compassionately. "We know," she murmured. "None of us do."

"But we have no choice," Jack put in. "If we don't do this then they certainly won't leave us alone."

Seth let out a huff of breath. "Fine," he grumbled. Then he grabbed some toast and began eating.

(Sometime later in the day)

(Seth Point of View)

Kayas and Alana had come over to Seth and Sara's place for a little while. They were currently wandering around in the rather massive indoor greenhouse attached to the mansion that Jack and Alex had. The plants were set in lines and they were walking down the tomato isle. The family never had to buy food from the store as they always grew everything, fruit, vegetables, spices and all, even those from other countries, in their massive greenhouses and gardens. In fact, they always grew more than they needed. The rest was donated to charities or a soup kitchen for the homeless.

There other friend, Terence, who was a Mai from Alana's pride, had been unable to come because of specific obligations that he didn't want to talk about. But it sounded serious.

Kayas, who was over 1400 years old, frowned. The girl had dark brown hair, that could sometimes be mistaken for black, deep beautiful full red lips, a narrow frame that was curvy and green eyes. Her eyes were narrow, more like her Asian side, and yet they always seemed sharp and focused. She had a small nose, looking delicate, hiding the fact that she was deadly. But hey, it wasn't her fault that she was training with her adoptive aunt who was a frienemy to her parents, Ni Chang a former goddess, half enemy and arch nemesis, half friend to her parents. She couldn't remember all the times that they had helped each other, yet all the times that they had also tried to kill each other. She was wearing a kimono, as she had been back in time recently to Japan. It was white decorated with blue flowers and had a slight train on the end. "So, they're going to force you to have a public party?" she questioned again.

Seth sighed and nodded. They were now reaching the green pepper section. His sister walked alongside them.

Alana shook her head. "That means that me, Kayas and Terence won't be able to come because we're not allowed to be in the public eye." The girl had blue eyes, a long nose, a slightly bigger frame than Kayas, and her muscles and strength were more obvious than Kayas' hidden and deadly strength, for Kayas looked delicate, yet she gave off an aura in which you could sense that she had authority and power. But Alana looked more of a fighter than she did even though it was the opposite, and her fighting nature was more seen. One would know that she is not one to mess with. Her lips were a brown-reddish color and she moved with such perfect balance all the time, as if she had never tripped in her life. And, indeed, she would always land on two feet. Her features though were more of Russian and Eastern European origin, like a mix. She was also incredibly beautiful in her own way like Kayas. Though Kayas's beauty made it so that her sometimes dangerous nature was deceptively hidden. She didn't have to do much to hide it. But Alana looked sleek and powerful in movement.

Seth could tell that Alana and Kayas were somewhat envious and hurt from Jack and Alex's decision. Actually, Seth didn't know who had caved in first. It could have been purely Alex's decision for all he knew, but in order to avoid being 'blamed' or have the responsibility for the decision put on her she'd said that Jack wanted to inform them. After all, this would not have been the first time she had done such a thing. The only reason they had found out was because of a few other times she had let it slip that a decision that had been made before, that supposedly Jack had orchestrated, was really of her doing and she had pushed him to be the one to inform them and thus 'take the blame' so to speak. That had happened a couple of times. It was always on hard decisions such as this. Therapy was one of them, but in the end Seth supposed it hadn't been a bad thing.

"They seem to think that the paparazzi won't leave us alone if we don't," Sara put in. "But we're still refusing the photo shooting part."

"At least for now," Seth grumbled. If they had caved in once, then they could do it again.

"You think that they'll cave in and have you do a photo shoot?" Alana questioned. When Seth didn't answer verbally, she sighed. The boy's silence was her answer. "I don't think they will," she told them gently. "They care about you deeply, and they'll put their foot down somewhere. After all, they've put their foot down before."

Seth relaxed somewhat at that. It was true. They did have a point.

Sara tucked some of her long blonde hair behind her ears. "What do you think we should do?" she asked them for advice, knowing that she was just as much affected by this, as was Seth. It may be Seth's birthday party and her brother may be the center of attention that night, but that wouldn't stop them from pulling her aside and asking questions to her either. After all, she was also a celebrity. But then again so were Jack and Alex, for they were famous authors, and they probably realized that they were in the same boat also. That made the girl feel better somewhat.

Unfortunately, their friends didn't answer. Now was the time that Sara wished most that she had her abilities fully developed. "Can't you give our abilities back to us completely, like you did our memories?" she begged Kayas.

But Kayas shook her head regretfully. "It doesn't work in the same way. Your memories were one thing. You're abilities are another."

"Isn't there anything that you can do?" Seth begged, joining in.

Kayas sighed. "No," she repeated, exasperated. But then her eyes softened when she saw them.

Though Alana and Kayas were good friends with Seth and his family, it wasn't something that Kayas or Alana's parents approved of, and it wasn't something that their kinds approved of. One time Kayas had wanted to take Seth, Sara, Jack, and Alex to meet Jason and Emily, her parents, but they had refused to let them come and see them. And because they outranked her since they were a king and queen and she was only a princess, she couldn't disobey their orders. Kayas and Alana didn't know what their problems were.

But thankfully, Seth and Sara had other friends from school whose parents approved of them and delighted to see them. Kayas and Alana were friends with them to, and them and their parents knew what they were, but they had agreed not to say anything. It was either that or they were too afraid of Kayas and Alana's parents to say anything, Seth couldn't tell which it was. But they delighted in Kayas and Alana. Natasha's mom was especially delighted. She looked a lot like her daughter except that she had died her hair blonde, a completely unnatural color.

Alana, who was now growing bored, tapped on their shoulders. "Come on!" she murmured. "Let's go back to the mansion!"

She ran off, looking so graceful, and Seth rolled his eyes briefly before following her.

**All right, so it wasn't one week. This is the first chapter of the sequel. **

**Please read and review and tell me what you think of it! I won't update until I have a few reviews. I'd appreciate it if you could give me some critiquing to.  
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	2. Chapter 2: Negotiations

**I don't own Race to Witch Mountain or Sanctuary.**

Chapter Two: Negotiations

(Seth Point of View)

Seth sighed walking into the house after Sara. Kayas and Alana had already left and he was frustrated. It was the weekend and in a couple of days his long vacation for spring break would be over, and he'd be back in school (or rather touring the school with Jack and Alex, as that was their excuse since he wasn't really allowed to go to school due to the nature of the adoptions, but Jack and Alex were 'volunteers' and they brought Seth and Sara along, so the kids go to be around the school and learn a little bit, even though they weren't officially enrolled, or necessarily sitting in the classrooms learning). That, and they'd be meeting all the demands of hundreds of fans every day. He wasn't looking forward to it. In all honesty he was considering asking his mom and dad to 'homeschool' him (in which he and Sara could learn in secret without having to fear that the government knew that Jack and Alex were educating him). But he didn't think they'd do it, after all the comments they'd made.

"You need to be in a public school, Seth. It's good for your emotional health because then you'll have a need to interact with others around your age," Jack had told him.

"Besides," Alex put in. "You need to learn to deal with the paparazzi and all of your annoying squealing fans. It's a fact of life for you that won't go away and being in a school environment will help you learn to deal with it."

All in all, Seth was annoyed with this. He did NOT think that going out in the public was a way to learn to deal and cope with things. And he thought their reasoning went beyond what they had told him. He got the feeling that they felt that if they didn't put Seth and Sara in that setting where they were forced to interact with others, whether their age or not, daily, then they'd waste away emotionally and they'd be in a worse emotional state than they were in right now because of what they had gone through. And Seth couldn't help but wonder if they were right. Would he be in a worse state if he wasn't forced to interact with others daily? After all, it was these things, these nuisances, that kept him from dwelling and thinking on all the terrible things that had happened to him. It kept him from doing nothing but laying in his room all day in a gloomy state and dwelling on nothing but that, feeling self-pity for himself. But at the same time it was keeping him from working through what had happened to him, and thus getting better in his opinion. Not that he wanted to work through it. Personally, he didn't think he'd ever be ready to work through it.

Seth thought that it was pointless. Surely there were other ways he could interact with others and yet be 'homeschooled' at the same time? Like signing him up for extra-curricular activities? After all, Jack and Alex certainly had more than enough money each to do that. And they could disguise what they were doing by attending the activities themselves, and just saying that Seth and Sara were playing on the side instead of participating. But no, they thought that the best way was school, so of course he was required to attend! They wouldn't even consider hiring him and Sara a private tutor (which they'd disguise by having a friend come over and receive the tutoring beside them so that they could say that they were paying for the education of a friend)!

Sara had turned around and started watching him. The boy knew that even without her mind reading she could understand him and his thoughts; or rather she was good at interpreting what he was feeling. After all, she had gone through pretty much the same thing. "It's hard, isn't it?" she whispered to him quietly, pity on her face.

Seth looked away from her, not wanting to meet her eyes, and nodded. "I feel like I'm being pushed to do more than I can handle. Jack and Alex are nice and all, and I know that they care and are trying to do what's best and all, but sometimes I wish they'd back off a little. It gets overwhelming the way that they're trying to push us more than we're ready for." But even Seth had his doubts on his last statement. As Sara stayed quiet and started gazing at the floor, Seth looked at her, an incomprehensible expression on his face, and suddenly asked her, "Do you think that they're pushing us more than we're ready for? Do you think that they've made the right decision? Do you think that we would have been worse if they hadn't decided what they've decided?"

Sara didn't answer for a while. Instead she kicked at the floor. "No," she suddenly firmly stated finally. Then she found the courage to look up at him and the boy saw some pain her eyes. "Believe me, I've felt like you've felt. But then I've thought on things and realized that they were right. We would have just been vegetables if they hadn't pushed us. And if they don't continue to push us then we'll wind up as vegetables. It's what they're forcing us to do that is keeping us distracted and able to function."

"And what about the paparazzi?" he challenged. "Because of the way they're pushing us, we have a lot to cope with now. They could have done it differently. They could have hired private tutors and then sent us to some extra-curricular activities. They have the money to do that."

But Sara shook her head. "I don't think that would have worked," she responded in monotone. "I don't think that would have been enough. Besides, at school we have friends that we can interact with. I think that it would have been too difficult and too much for us to be put in a situation where we would have to make more friends. That, and we wouldn't have the energy to differentiate this time whether or not they were using us and were just hanging around us because of who and what we are, because we're drained emotionally. Plus, it would raise questions in the government as to what they're really doing with us, and our adoption would be in question. It's far easier to hide the fact that we're getting a little education in school because Jack and Alex frequent volunteers. But if they start volunteering a bunch of places where kids are, extracurricular activities, having someone else homeschooled in their home, they'll begin to figure out that it's an excuse to get us involved in human things, in human activities. Right now they have a legitimate excuse because the adoption states that we can't be alone by ourselves, so they have no choice but to bring us along since they don't have another approved adult to take us in during that time, and the only other adults that they would think of approving and have approved are busy and working during the time that they volunteer. Besides, working in the school where we used to attend probably raises a lot of suspicions already, so they're taking a big risk for us."

Seth nodded. What she said made sense and he found himself agreeing with her. But he didn't like agreeing with her. He'd rather be right, even though he knew that being right was not good, and it was far easier to deny that he wouldn't go into that terrible state and to lie to himself that he would have been fine regardless.

Some footsteps were heard and Alex smiled when she saw both of them. "Ready for lunch?" she asked them. The two of them nodded and followed her.

As they passed through the maze of a house, Seth glanced around at all the photos of him and Sara lining the wall. One thing was for sure – they really did love them and they were very proud of them, and they wanted to show them off. The photos were sometimes portraits, whether individual or family, but they were usually taken when they'd made various accomplishments. Usually these photographs annoyed Seth but today he was grateful to see them. It only reminded him that he was loved, as opposed to... well, you know.

Seth blinked when he walked into the dining room, and instead of seeing a meal, he saw practically a banquet. "What's with all the food?" Sara asked a puzzled expression on her face as she looked at all the lumps and piles of food.

Jack grinned. Oh, no. Did he do this?

Alex smiled a bit shyly. "I've, uh, been teaching Jack how to cook a bit."

Nothing could replace the hilarious looks on both Seth and Sara's faces. It was an expression of horror, an expression of, 'You did what?'

Suddenly, for which Seth was embarrassed that he blurted out without thinking a few seconds later, Seth, in a high pitched voice inquired, "Is it edible?" for which his sister hit him on the arm and Alex gave him a certain look that said 'don't ask that right now, you'll hurt his feelings!' Seth turned a deep red and Jack sighed.

"I didn't cook it all," he admitted. "But, I uh, kinda messed up a little so we ended up overcooking a storm. That and I just cooked excess anyways."

'So there is edible food on the table,' Seth thought and was relieved a bit when he heard that Alex had cooked some and Jack had allowed her to not only help but teach him. That was somewhat of a relief, though not completely. Seth still had his doubts.

The two kids sat down and Jack began dishing the food out eagerly like he had done once before when he was eager for everyone then present to try his creations. Seth guessed that the man still hadn't figured out that his wife had lied to him about the tradition in the one cooking for the first time passing everything out. And so it _**had**_ become tradition.

The boy pulled his tail, which was constantly curled around his body closer to him and tighter against his stomach (since he didn't like showing it off because it was an embarrassment to him and only a reminder of what he had gone through, even though the whole world knew about his tail and thought it was cruel what had been done to him). Both kids' tails would react with their emotions, along with other things, whether they realized it or not. For one time, Seth had noticed that his tail was wagging like a dog and how it will wag it's tail when laying on the ground when it is happy to see its master and friend, when Jack came into the room to see how he was doing shortly after the adoption. And Seth had been happy then. The boy hadn't realized that his tail was wagging and it was only when Jack mentioned something that Seth had realized that he'd unintentionally brought his tail out and was using it. Jack had merely asked why he did that with his tail and when Seth realized that Jack had been referring to more than one incident Seth explained that he hadn't realized he and Sara had been using their tails, and the boy asked how often he had been using them. According to Jack, he and Sara brought it out quite often. That disturbed Seth a little but slowly he got used to the idea of his tail and that it was now a part of him, even though he still didn't like it. But it was also useful. Usually Seth tried not to pay attention to it. He tried to think of his tail as always wrapped around his waist. But, truth be told, he did exercise his tail in secret so that he could make it strong.

The paparazzi had asked him and Sara about their tails before, for which, when Seth and Sara started crying at the question, Jack had gotten pretty upset at the reporters and told them to leave the kids alone and stop harassing them with questions. Since Jack was being very protective, he was very intimidating and they left Seth and his sister alone after that. The reporters tried to get the sympathy of the public but the public only supported Jack and his decision even further, making them and their photographers even less popular than they already were after certain incidents. And with the recent laws nowadays they didn't dare get close to him (which laws Jack and Alex and their celebrity friends had encouraged be created, which excuse they used was that she and her husband shouldn't be harassed, and the government didn't like the aliens being filmed so it didn't bother them at all that the law was created).

But Seth and Sara couldn't help but feel embarrassed by their actions on the screen, and Jack and Alex spent the night comforting them after the embarrassing scheme, and told them that it wasn't their fault, and that there was nothing to be embarrassed about. Seth believed them.

Sometimes Seth wished his tail could be taken away from him, and he could have his old self back. But he knew that that was impossible, and to even attempt would be deadly. Seth didn't want to die so he was stuck as he was. He knew his uncle had been truthful with them there because Jack and Alex, doubting the man's word, had taken Seth and Sara to a doctor (which they didn't like; Jack and Alex only took them because the kids kept complaining about the state of their bodies) and the doctor, after doing a thorough examination just to be sure informed them that it was indeed impossible and would be foolish to attempt, even fatal. And so they left it at that, Seth and Sara unhappy with their circumstances.

But there was much that they were happy about. They finally had a family, had parents they knew they could trust and were comfortable with. They finally, for the first time in months, felt loved and felt like they were with people who wouldn't betray them, even with simply informing them that there was a major secret that affected them that they were keeping to themselves. No, Jack and Alex weren't like that. They were open and honest with the kids, even if it was hard for them, because they knew that the kids needed that. And so, Seth and Sara felt like they were in an environment in which they could heal from their emotional scars.

The boy glared at the food on the table in front of him, warily looking at it. Did he dare eat it? Did he dare to take a bite out of it? He glanced around. "Uh, Alex?" he began as he waited for someone to pick up their food and try it, so that he could see their expressions. He could see that Sara was waiting for the same thing. He didn't even know which ones Jack had cooked and which ones Alex had cooked. He only trusted the ones Alex had cooked. Such was his distrust for Jack's cooking, especially after that incident where he had received more-than-metal-hard volcano rocks to eat that were supposedly pancakes.

Alex looked at him. She was also waiting for someone to take a bite. 'That's very encouraging,' the boy thought dryly. "Will Jack try first?" Seth questioned her, giving her a knowing look. Meanwhile Jack looked and listened in on the exchange going on.

Alex turned to her husband instead, trying very hard not to hurt his feelings. "I don't know, will you?" she asked Jack.

The man smiled in embarrassment. "I, uh, guess," he stuttered. He picked up his omelet and slowly put it to his mouth. The rest of the family watched intently, Jack being the guinea pig. But when he chewed and swallowed and even said, "Mm," with no apparent difficulty, the rest of the family was convinced that everything was all right and they all dug it.

As they ate Seth and Sara subconsciously unwrapped their tails and they flickered back and forth. Jack and Alex ignored this, knowing that it would only pain them to make mention of it and they had no intention of hurting them. Besides, this was normal for them, at least since getting their tails it was. It happened every meal. Even the guests were usually polite enough to ignore it. But occasionally they would have to glare at a guest for staring at this, and thus almost bringing it to the attention of the kids. There were fair close misses.

For this reason they were also very careful when they went out to eat and they would make sure the restaurant had a private space so that they could take Seth and Sara in there where their tails wouldn't get noticed and thus embarrass the kids. It was also useful since every member of the family, including Jack and Alex for their books that they had published, were celebrities. It helped them to have some peace while eating. But the main reason they did this was because they didn't want to pain the kids about their tails.

The kids were surprised that the food actually tasted good. Seth had been cautious before, mainly because of his first encounter with Jack and food combined, so he wasn't entirely sure that the food had even been edible. But now that he was confident that there was nothing wrong with it, he dug in and ate as much as he could until his belly ached because he was so full.

If there was one thing that Seth and Sara liked a lot about Jack and Alex it was that they let them eat as much food as they wanted. Seth knew the reason why: he was still recovering from his near starvation experience, even though that took place months ago. But it had been so traumatic that the doctor figured that it would take them a few years physically until they were at a point where they weren't in a starvation phase.

And what made it comforting and worthwhile to live with Jack and Alex and have them as their parents was that they never complained about Seth and Sara eating them out of house and home. The kids felt loved, which was what they needed.

Seth's tail twitched even more, and when he realized that his tail was twitching, that was when he put it down some. But he kept it out. That was when he noticed Jack and Alex and Sara glancing in his direction. He put his food down and stared back.

Jack cleared his throat. "Seth," he began. "Is there any particular restaurant you want to go to for your birthday?"

Seth frowned. "No, not really," he admitted. What he wanted more than anything was to stay home and spend some time with his family that way. He really didn't want to go out in the public where he could possibly be harassed by crazy fans of his.

When Jack began again that was when he realized that he hadn't understood the man's comment. "We were thinking about having a dinner public birthday party."

Seth froze. The food that he had just picked up dropped with the utensils to his plate in a 'plop' and the boy looked at Jack, his expression saying, 'Seriously?' His mouth was open in shock and possible horror that they would pursue such an avenue. He wanted to say something but all he could express was, "What?" If there was one thing that Seth didn't like about the adoption it was that he was aloud to do anything that people would do with other pets, including dogs and cats and others, and since some people gave their animals birthday parties, Jack and Alex had an excuse. That was about the only time that they were truly aloud to 'give' them things, but even then it wasn't truly giving since it would technically belong to Jack and Alex according the the laws and the adoptions. After all, if someone gets their dog a new dog bed as a present, despite it being for the dog and given to her, it technically in the eyes of the law belongs to the owner. Christmas was the only other exception when they could receive 'gifts', or other celebrations, religious or otherwise, when gifts are exchanged, and thus things are given to 'pets'.

Sara looked away, not wanting to get involved in the conversation, especially when Seth glanced in her direction. She felt awkward, as did the rest. Alex was kind of fidgeting, trying to look at anything, anyone but Seth. Jack was strangely calm, knowing that this was a sensitive topic for the boy. Finally, Jack blurted out admitting the truth, "It was Alex's idea!"

Alex whacked him hard under the table for which Jack cried out, "Ouch!" rather loudly and he turned to his wife. "What!" he exclaimed.

Alex tried hard to put a smile on her face, trying to comfort Seth, and she turned to the boy and said, "I merely thought that might be the most appropriate way to do this because then we're all sitting down and then you'll be flanked by me, your sister, and Jack, or rather Jack and I will be flanking both of you, with you two in the middle. That way you're not actually around any of them to where they can harass you. But the restaurant that you pick is up to you. It will need to be with a private section though."

Seth got up. "I'm not doing a party!" he stubbornly exclaimed and then he stomped to his room. If he had done this in public the government would have counted it as disobedience and his adoption would have been in danger, but thankfully they were in the house, so Seth knew that he was safe to express his emotions, as long as there weren't any windows nearby.

He collapsed on the bed. "Why me!" he cried, dreading a public birthday party. Why did Jack and Alex have to cave in? Couldn't those other people leave him alone? Why did they have to know what he was doing twenty-four seven, what he liked and disliked, the things that he bought (or rather had bought for him since he couldn't technically 'buy' things)? It was none of their business!

There was suddenly a soft knock on the door. "Go away!" Seth cried out and turned around in his bed to where he was facing the wall opposite the door. But the door opened regardless and he heard footsteps approaching his poster bed.

The person sat down on his bed beside them. "Seth?" Alex's soft voice sounded, seeming calm like she did whenever she tried to comfort him. Seth didn't respond but instead he ignored her. So Alex gently brushed some hair that was ready to fall into his eyes out of his face and only then did Seth look up at her and speak to her.

"Why do we have to do a public birthday party?" he asked. "I know that you're only doing this because you finally caved in."

Alex let out a huge puff of breath. "It's hard to be celebrities," she murmured kindly and then looked down at Seth again as she had looked briefly away. "But it's something that you need to cope with. It's a reality for you."

Seth looked away. "I don't like reality then."

"No one does," she replied softly. "But nonetheless we have to live every day and we have to deal with it every day. Sometimes to make these nuisances go away you just have to give them what they want, or at least somewhat give them what they want. Then they don't have a real reason to complain. Seth, we're doing this for your own benefit and good. We know how hard it is on you when they harass you like that, and we're only thinking of the future. Sometimes you have to negotiate with them."

This unwittingly to her sparked an idea in Seth's mind, and he grinned widely at her. "How about I negotiate with you then?" he asked, smiling widely.

Alex, not understanding, smiled back, glad to see Seth in a better mood. But that was only until she asked, "Negotiate on what?" She regretted the idea as soon as the next words popped out of Seth's mouth.

"Negotiate on the public party," the boy grinned back. "How about we hold two private parties and have no public party?"

Alex sighed. Her expression was that of someone saying, 'Great! Just great!' "No," she responded firmly. "We need a public party. It's not negotiable."

"Then I'll do extra chores!" Seth protested. "I'll work for you a little bit to pay for the expenses of my party and the other party that could have happened!"

But Alex shook her head. "Some things are not negotiable, Seth. Besides, I can't have you work for me! That's not right! And you're in a recovering stage right now and..." she trailed off when she saw that she was getting carried away. "Sorry," she murmured. "No deal."

Seth thought long and hard for a moment. Jack and Alex 'gave' him and Sara weekly incomes if they did what little chores they were assigned to do (which was just to keep their rooms clean basically), and they earned about $20,000 each week combined, since Jack and Alex made millions each week and could afford to give them that much. "How about I buy you a new car?" he offered. "What about that sports car that you wanted? I could get you that!"

Alex's face went white. Technically, according to the alien pet adoption, they weren't supposed to be giving them any money at all. But there was specific money in their budget that they set aside to use to buy whatever Seth and Sara wanted. It was like a separate savings account, and they'd put money in there if the kids did the chores. They also used that money to buy the kids birthday gifts and other presents on special occasions. Jack and Alex handled the money for them, since it was technically in the eyes of the law, her and her husband Jack's money, and because the alien kids weren't aloud to handle any amount of money.

Seth and Sara never really used all the money that they were 'given', or rather that was set aside for them. They were usually savers, so they 'had' a lot of money, or Jack and Alex had a lot of money in the account solely used for them. Seth and Sara wished to get jobs but they knew that they never could because of the alien pet adoption and the whole family was afraid to break it because they knew the consequences of breaking it, and Jack and Alex were very protective of them. But they already broke it a little bit for they treated Seth and Sara as equals and allowed them to think for themselves, which they technically weren't supposed to do. They tried to avoid broadcasting that into the open because they didn't want the adoption annulled, so when they went out they usually didn't have the kids say much, and it was all hush hush. The parents would do a lot of speaking out in the open, and Jack and Alex or an authorized adult would always attend Seth and Sara as that was what the alien pet adoption required. But the kids weren't allowed to go to school anymore due to the nature of the adoption. But they did 'visit' the school with Jack and Alex. That and their school friends often came by. Seth wondered who was now filling in for his place in the football team, as well as Sara's position on the cheerleading squad.

Alex shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous, Seth!" she exclaimed. Then she sighed. "There's no compromising on the public party."

"Why not?" Seth challenged. "You said that sometimes you have to negotiate."

"Yeah, well that's not what I meant."

"You never elaborated," Seth pointed out, a happy grin on his face. He had caught her in her own words and she knew it. Now she would have no choice but to negotiate with him.

The woman sighed. "Don't you trust me?" she asked him, trying a different way to convince him.

"Don't you follow the rules you set for others?" Seth challenged back.

Alex shook her head. "Come on, Seth. Don't do this to me! Don't make me feel so guilty that I'll do whatever you want!" But Seth stayed silent.

"Come on," he begged. "No public parties. No giving in to the paparazzi, reporters, and others when it comes to me and Sara. And in return I'll get you whatever you want."

"This won't bode well with your adoption," Alex growled and Seth could tell that she was afraid that the government would find out about this and hold them accountable.

"Then don't tell them," Seth pitched in. "They don't have to know. Besides, no one will know since we never announced a public party."

"I guess you're right," Alex sighed.

And Seth grinned wide, knowing what she meant, but choosing to use her words against her again. "Great!" he exclaimed and Alex's eyes widened.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" she let out in shock, but Seth only smiled wider.

"You never specified," he pointed out and Alex sighed.

"Fine!" she snapped. "I'll go talk to your dad about this!" She got up to leave but when she reached the door she turned back. "And that doesn't mean I made any promises," she added, narrowing her eyes and pointing one of her long fingers at him.

But Seth merely shrugged as if there was nothing wrong with that. "That's cool!" he added and the woman left, shutting the door softly despite her irritation. Seth smirked widely and lay back down in his bed, looking content. He laid luxuriously, as one confident and at home, hands behind his head, and staring up at the ceiling as he smirked. "What a long day," he sighed. He fell asleep in no time at all, snoring.

(Some time later.)

(Seth Point of View)

When Seth finally went downstairs he was somewhat sleepy. As everyone was in the living room he decided that that was where he wanted to be. He sat down beside Jack, who had a newspaper in his hand. For some reason it looked like he wasn't so involved in it anymore when Seth came downstairs, despite the fact that he had it to his face. Seth's sister, Sara, had the remote in her hand and was busy watching Sanctuary, which had been running a marathon all day. She and the rest of the family were just getting into the series. She snickered when she watched Nikola and John Druitt, aka Jack the Ripper, face off in a verbal argument. "Why doesn't Nikola back off?" she asked aloud, not wanting a response.

But one came anyways. "Because he also likes Helen Magnus even though she isn't into either of them."

"The five fought a lot. I wonder why."

From beside her Jack shrugged. "Oh, self-interest, and the usual. After all, Helen Magnus was the leader of the little gang and she was also the only woman of the five. The rest were men."

Seth sat down beside them and tilted his head when Ashley's name was mentioned. "Who's Ashley Magnus?" he asked.

"She's Helen and John Druitt's daughter," Jack responded, newspaper still in hand. He was so buried in it that Seth couldn't see his face.

But when he said this, Sara turned to Jack in shock, knowing a little bit about earth culture, including that real life group of murder cases from the eighteen hundreds. "She's Jack the Ripper's daughter?" she exclaimed, eyes wide open. Jack nodded.

"But then again you never saw the very first episode, or the first season for that matter," Alex replied, watching the TV intensely.

Sara shook her head. The first season had aired after Jack and Alex's marriage and before Seth and Sara's return. The couple had liked the series when it first started, and had watched it frequently, except when Seth and Sara went missing. But the first time the kids saw the series was after they had been adopted by Jack and Alex because the series had been on break when they had first come to visit, and they had been kidnapped before the next season started. But when they were adopted and the new season had aired then they started watching the series with Jack and Alex, and that was when Sara had looked up a bit about Jack the Ripper (after she found out that there was a real Jack the Ripper because she had a hard time understanding the series, due to how cultural deep it was steeped in, and that fact was mentioned to her and it helped her understand the series a bit better).

And Seth and Sara were hooked on the TV series after that, even though they had missed tons of episodes. In fact, Jack had once offered to buy them the DVDs so that they could catch up with what was going on. As they were all on back order, they were waiting for the DVD's to come in. They had received a phone call from the place they had bought it from and they had just been informed, as of two days ago, that the products were being shipped to them and that it would take more than likely a couple of weeks to get there.

Jack sighed and gently took the remote out of Sara's hands. When she started protesting Jack shook his head. "I need to talk to you and Seth for a moment, but more to Seth," he announced and Seth turned to face the man in such a quick manner that one would think that the speed to which he was able to accomplish it was impossible. 'Here it comes,' he thought. 'He's about to let me off and say that we don't need a public party.'

Jack was taking his sweet little old time in getting ready. He placed the newspaper down slowly and took a sip of his hot chocolate that was on a stand beside the chair, and then slowly put it back down, as if he weren't eager for this conversation. "Seth," he began. "Alex told me about what you and her talked about."

Seth stood stalk still. Then he slowly nodded, watching Jack closely. "She said that she'd talk to you about it." Jack nodded. Meanwhile, Sara was looking back and forth, watching what was happening unravel before her as she could no longer read minds, and thus she was handicapped and oblivious as to what was going on. She watched the scene unfold with curiosity.

Jack sighed. "We did talk about it. And I must say, my starchild, my little one, my sweetling, that you have quite the persuasive manner."

Seth suddenly started grinning widely. He was getting off! He knew it!

But Jack shook a finger and Seth's grin dropped. "Ah, ah, ah!" Jack responded when he saw Seth get excited. "That doesn't mean that there won't be a public party."

Seth's face fell even more. "But I don't want one!" he whined. And Sara, by now knowing what was going on, widened her eyes. Her tail came out and flickered a little bit as she got even more intrigued and interested. And Seth's tail came out and drooped, touching the floor to where if he were walking, it would drag.

Jack sighed. "Hear me out," he begged the boy, a pleading look in the man's eyes and Seth looked straight into them. Jack seemed to hesitate before starting again. "I think that perhaps the greatest reason we wanted to have one was because we felt that they would continue to pester you until they got what they wanted, even if it took thirty-five years to do so. And that said, I'm willing to compromise. We still need to do something public for them, but it doesn't have to be the public party. We'll let you pick out what public event you want to do and we'll give a yay or nay of approval."

"But!" Seth protested and Jack shook his head.

"No buts. Now you can either decide for yourself or we'll decide for you. You pick which avenue you would rather go down."

Seth sighed. He had no choice but to do something public. But there was one other trick he was willing to try before giving in to Jack's demands. "How about I buy you another mustang?" Seth tried to negotiate and Jack suddenly stared at Seth in a manner that told everyone that Seth had struck the right nerve and item with which to negotiate with.

"What kind of mustang?" he asked, getting really interested, and Alex, who had a magazine in her hand stood up, walked over, and whacked her husband on the head. "Uh, I mean no deal, Seth," and he mouthed to Seth where Alex couldn't hear, "Sorry, but I can't disobey my wife."

'He's such a pushover when it comes to Alex,' Seth thought to himself and he sighed. "Fine," he groaned, disappointed that his latest technique did not work. He thought long and hard for a moment before replying, "I guess I'll do a public party or something with some talk show host."

Jack nodded importantly, glad that he decided for himself. "Okay then," he announced officially. "After you decide what show you want to be on then I'll set up the appointment. Or you could help me set up the occasion. And what we'll do is have a birthday party there, since according to the adoption you can't really have an interview, but you can have a birthday party. The birthday party will then be broadcast, and the adoption won't be in danger because we'll have followed the guidelines."

Seth nodded reluctantly, not liking the position he was put in. "I'll help you set it up," he decided, because he wanted at least some say in it.

The two exited the room.

**Okay, so I tried to add some humor in this chapter with Jack a bit, and I tried my best to lighten things up.**

**Please read and review! Please may I have three more reviews, even if you review twice? It would be much appreciated. It lets me know that people are reading!**

**So, here you also see a little more of the restrictions that the alien pet adoptions places on aliens and those who care for them. Frustrating, isn't it? Jack and Alex have to constantly be careful because of it, as do Seth and Sara. They have to be careful not to break the rules even the slightest.**

**And on another note, this is a bit of an AU to our universe when it comes to the series of Sanctuary and the air dates, so that you're not confused. On the same note I am also one of many that wants the producers or someone to bring Ashley Magnus back, since killing her off was a bad idea. Bring Ashley back! It CAN be done!  
><strong>

**Also, let me know what you thought of this chapter, any critiquing that you may have, and what you would like to see. I am open to suggestions, even though I pretty much know where I am going with this story. But it's still good to know what the audience wants so that I can change things as necessary or incorporate things in.**

**Also, answer this question in your review please. What do you think of Seth and Sara's new environment? **

**Also to answer, what did you think of Alex teaching Jack to cook? Do you think she took a big risk? Would you have reacted like Seth and Sara if you were in that same situation?**

**Much appreciated! Thanks to those who read, review, and answer!**

**Until next time, my fans!**

**Firestar'sniece  
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	3. Chapter 3: Party

**I don't own Race to Witch Mountain.**

Chapter Three: Party

(Seth Point of View)

Seth was snoring slightly as he had fallen fast asleep on the plane. The boy and his sister had stayed up late talking about what would happen the next day when he went to have his birthday party in public. To tell the truth, though, Seth was kind of looking forward to it. He had never had a birthday party before, since they didn't do that kind of thing on his former planet. That and it was Jack and Alex's way of showing that they loved him, which he appreciated. He may be having a public party a week before his actual birthday so they he and his family and friends could have his private birthday party on his actual birthday, but that didn't make this party any less exciting.

Seth turned around in his first class seat and unintentionally put his head on his mother's shoulders as he slept. He sighed contentedly and Alex smiled, glad to see him comfortable. The boy murmured a bit as he slept and Alex shushed him gently, taking him in her arms and rocking him back and forth. Seth relaxed even more at this. Meanwhile, close by Sara and Jack were engaged in a game of chess on Jack's laptop, and Sara was winning much to Jack's frustration. Sara had gotten more sleep than Seth, but she had taken a nap earlier. It was a long flight they were taking, about ten hours' worth.

The boy opened his eyes slightly, waking up, and he blushed deeply when he saw that he was in Alex's arms. He sat up some. "Sorry," he murmured, placing his head down.

"Don't be," Alex encouraged him. "I'm glad that you were able to get some rest."

Seth nodded a bit. "So am I. I needed it." His tail twitched and he glanced around the cabin. They were on the upper level in the front, for first class sat in the upper part of the plane in the front. They also got excellent service.

A flight attendant came by swiftly, and Seth could tell that she was delighted to see him and have the opportunity to serve him. She was young, and a fan of his and his family's no doubt. "Can I get you anything?" she asked him eagerly and Seth shook his head, tail twitching again.

The flight attendant wasn't about to leave him alone, though. "Are you sure?" she asked again, longingly, eagerly.

Seth shook his head again, wishing that she'd go away as all eyes on the cabin were now on him. He thought he heard a nine year old girl a few rows back ask someone beside her, "Daddy, please can I ask them for their autographs?"

"For the thousandth time, no!" her father responded in a distressed, exasperated manner. "Leave poor people alone! They're not a museum exhibit!" It was times like this that Seth wished Jack and Alex would buy a private plane and hire people to operate it, since they could well afford it.

The flight attendant walked away, but before she did she whispered, "I'm Mary," in his ear and gave him a card with her telephone number on it. "Call me!" she whispered, trying to flirt with him, and Seth stared back at her, stunned that she would do such a thing.

"Do you want to sit on the inside?" Alex offered him when she saw that he was uncomfortable. Seth nodded and the two of them switched places. When Seth sat down again the boy sighed in content, glad somewhat that now it would be Alex being bothered and not him. He knew it was kind of a selfish thought, but he appreciated her caring attitude and the fact that she was willing to take the brunt of everything in his place.

Seth was glad to sit by his sister who gave him a small smile. " They're the best parents, aren't they?" she whispered to him and Seth nodded sincerely. Suddenly, when they heard the giggles of some girls, and some chatting guys, they looked over their shoulders to see a group of fifteen year old guys and girls staring at them. Sara sighed and Seth did his best to ignore it.

"Do we have to be so popular?" Seth bitterly whispered.

"Well, it's better than being hated," Sara commented and a shiver went down both of their spines as they remembered bits of their past. Henry Burke and his people had indeed been hateful of them, despite the fact that Seth and Sara were Henry Burke's niece and nephew by marriage. Henry's wife, Mary Burke, was half alien, and because she was half-alien she was able to get out of the persecution. According to Henry Burke, half-aliens were innocent because they had human in them, and thus they were counted human. But Seth and Sara were full-blooded, and thus that was where their prejudice lie. They looked at full-blooded aliens as monsters, but the half-bloods were innocent in their eyes. In fact, they considered them victims to whoever their full-blooded alien ancestor was, whether it was the mother, grandmother, grandfather, or father. It didn't matter. That full-blooded alien would be persecuted and would be considered an attacker on the 'innocent' human and half-breeds.

And this had all started because of some actions that Seth and Sara's birth parents had taken. Whereas before Henry Burke and Mary Burke had been loving towards the kids and all aliens, they now hated full-blooded aliens and especially Emily and Jared. They had hated Seth and Sara at first, they being Emily and Jared Frontier's birth children, but they had slowly come to love them, that was they had slowly come to adore them and see them in a greater light after Seth and Sara had been tortured horrendously. But it was too late. The kids had been damaged with a permanent effect that they were just now trying to walk out of.

And so they had come into the hands of their friends Alex and Jack, who were their current guardians and parents, they refusing to go with their birth parents and holding them accountable for what they had been through. Jack and Alex loved them, and they knew it. The couple was willing to sacrifice anything for them, even their lives.

Seth put his head on Alex's shoulder, trying to rest, preparing for the big day coming up. He was out in no time, snoring ever so slightly.

(Seth Point of View)

The boy was woken up when the plane landed and the passengers started unloading. He yawned; bored with waiting, eager to get to the elaborate hotel suite that Jack and Alex had rented for their stay. He wanted nothing more than to plop down and sleep again, just like he had done on the plane. That was how exhausted he was. He was entirely grateful that they had come a day early because that would give him and Sara a chance to rest up before heading towards the party that he didn't look forward to. He hoped he didn't get too snappy. He could barely stay awake and he didn't know how he'd stay awake the next day.

Seth trudged off the plane like a zombie and a man who was going to drive them in a limo was waiting for them. The man didn't seem to pay attention to the fact that he had four celebrities in his custody and care, and later in his vehicle. Thus was how professional he acted. He merely drove them to their location and helped them bring their bags into the hotel, and then he left.

As Jack checked into the hotel, the kids sat waiting, Sara also looking tired. "I'm sure you're both eager to rest," Alex murmured to them and the kids nodded. They were taken to their rooms, some people carrying their luggage for them, and they finally reached their suite. "I do hope that you enjoy your time here," a young man told them in a professional manner, and then he smiled at Sara, trying to flirt with her, causing the girl to fidget uncomfortably.

Seth was annoyed. What was with people trying to get close to them just because they were celebrities, or perhaps so that they could be called their boyfriend or girlfriend? How selfish! And Jack, as overprotective as he was, glared at him and chased the hotel employee away. "Stay away from them!" Jack called out and Sara and Seth smiled, glad that justice had been delivered on behalf of them.

Jack sighed. "When will people learn to leave us alone?" he muttered, and he cast a sympathetic look at Seth and Sara. "Come on," he urged them. "We should get you inside so that you can sleep. If I weren't more educated I'd have mistaken you two for zombies."

Seth tilted his head and Sara's eyes widened, both confused. "What's a Zombie?" Sara asked but Jack shook his head.

"Later," he encouraged her and Seth's curiosity on the matter only burned even brighter. 'I have to wait?' he thought.

But Seth, though he didn't understand it, did indeed trudge into the hotel like a zombie. He didn't bother unpacking. He just went straight to bed. He was out in a jiffy.

(The next day.)

(Seth Point of View)

Seth and Sara had slept all through the night, not even waking up for dinner when Jack and Alex urged them to. They were too exhausted. By the time they woke up the next day, they had no choice but to wake up because they needed to head to the party. So Seth changed sighed and got up, changed in the bathroom, and headed to the limo with his family, not eager for his public birthday party.

It was bright outside which blinded Seth some whose eyes were still in a sleepy state. They were in Chicago and as Seth looked around he saw some interesting signs reading, 'Did you know that aliens have been among us for a very long time? Our ancestors encountered aliens. Some of our ancestors WERE aliens.' Seth snorted. What good this little first contact had done them. They still didn't know and understand and got a lot wrong about aliens. Had he ever encountered any little grey aliens? No. They all looked humanoid because that was the only form that could have and hold intelligent life enough to make things as complex as they made them. Such was the universe. He wondered when humans would finally learn. Why did they still continue to play out their fantasies despite the proof in front of them? Although he had to admit that the part of some of the humans' ancestors being aliens may have been correct. He knew of some civilizations that had colonized on little earth because they had nowhere to go, being evicted from their planet by their tyrannical government. And it was these ancestors that had sparked the revolution in America. After all, they inspired their children, who had mixed with the human race. George Washington's grandmother was of pure alien descent.

Seth sighed. He could tell people all they wanted, but humans wouldn't listen until they saw it with their own eyes. That was how stubborn they were. It was even that way with Seth and Sara. Jack had proven that much when he had first met the guy. And to tell the truth Seth had been afraid of a more negative reaction when they had first announced that they were aliens. He didn't know what to expect.

But thankfully, it had turned out, or at least it had turned out then. But it didn't do completely what Jack and Alex had wanted it to do for it hadn't entirely protected them from Henry Burke and his vicious plan for them.

Seth turned his thoughts way from this, for they were frequently on it, wishing for a do-over. But now he had something else to worry about, created by Jack and Alex – the party.

As they entered the studio, Seth saw the balloons and felt close to fainting. His face went white and horrified and he stumbled. Poor guy. But Jack put a reassuring hand around him and walked a robot Seth out into the studio which clapped on their arrival. There were actually quite a number of cheers and whistles when he entered, especially by girls, who seemed to adore Seth.

As Jack walked a shaky Seth to his seat in front of the audience, Seth shivered. "I don't want to do this, Jack," he complained in a low voice, keeping the crowd from hearing.

But Jack shook his head. "It's not an option, Seth."

The boy groaned some and then allowed Jack to seat him, his face still white. When the cheering died down Katherine, the host of the show came out onto the stage. The set music was heard and she quickly announced, "Welcome to the Katherine Cooper show! Today is a special episode for we are featuring the Bruno family for our fellow visitor Seth's birthday!"

The cheering grew annoyingly loud as the many fans celebrated the fact that they had been invited to attend a celebrities birthday party, for everyone in the crowd that was a guest to the studio had been hand-picked by the Bruno family. Mainly, it was Jack and Alex who picked them as Seth refused to participate, hoping that they wouldn't make a decision for him. But they did. Others in their pick he had utterly refused and so someone else was chosen in that person's place. At least Jack and Alex were that much respectful. But they still insisted on the party because they thought that it was 'good' for him. And they were doing it with the best of intentions.

Seth's face went utterly white with the cheering. Katherine turned to him a smile on his face. "And so the party begins!" she announced.

And indeed the party did begin. Everyone in the crowd (mainly young girls, and young guys secondly, barely anyone over twenty) rushed towards Seth and the Bruno family, crowding them out, holding out wrapped packages. Seth, who was distressed and didn't understand what a gift was, backed up. He screeched in alarm as the girls close to him crowded him out shouting, "Open mine first!" "No, mine first!"

"Jack!" Seth yelled out in distress, and the crowd who had accidentally pushed Jack, Alex, and Sara away, giving Seth all the attention because it was his birthday party, tried to get to him, Jack and Alex desperately pushing people out of their way to get to their son who was on the verge of freaking out form the lack of personal space.

"Move away! Move away!" Jack shouted, Alex behind him, Sara not daring to get into the crowd now lest the attention turn to her and her fans harass her like they were Seth, and Jack began pushing people out of his way, trying to get to Seth as if he were the boy's body guard. "I said get out of the way!" Jack shouted in frustration again at his son being harassed, but the crowd wasn't listening to him. They only wanted Seth. It was all about him. It was his special day after all.

"Jack!" Seth shouted again as they crowded him even more since he hadn't taken any of their gifts, the boy confused and feeling attacked. Now they were trying to grab his hands and force their packages and gifts into his hands, which dropped on the floor. Then they would pick it up and try again. Then there were people shoving other people trying to get Seth to open their gift first, and they would shove and even hit other people's hands away. The people farthest away tried to shove others out of the crowd and get closer and closer, and thus the crowd got closer to the distressed boy who didn't appreciate them being in his personal space. "Jack!" he shouted again.

Finally, the man and his wife reached Seth and they pushed others away from the poor distressed alien boy. All in all, it was kind of amusing to watch from the sidelines, but not if you were in the middle of it. "Back up!" Jack shouted and it sounded threatening enough, especially when he put himself in a protective stance in front of him that the crowd backed up. They immediately shut up and stared with wide eyes at the man. "You should be ashamed of yourselves!" Jack began, rebuking the crowd. "You've frightened my poor son! And after all he's been through, the last thing he needs is to go through something like this! You've seen and heard what's happened to him! Do you really want him to feel so frightened to be hurt again?"  
>The crowds shook their head and stared silently back. Jack continued, "You should be ashamed of yourselves! You're guests here! Each of you were hand invited by us, and thus you are guests. We didn't have to choose you, and we can certainly kick you out for that kind of behavior.<p>

"Besides, how do you think he feels about it? How would you feel if you were crowded out like that? How would your friends feel if they were crowded out by that? Huh?"

The crowd didn't know what to say. They were shocked. They hadn't realized the reason they were there was because they were handpicked. They had been completely selfish in their actions. And because of Jack's presence they didn't dare go near the boy.

Meanwhile, Seth was shaking from the experience and Alex had her arms protectively wrapped around him, hugging him tightly. Sara was shyly behind Alex, her brother and mother her shield if the crowd suddenly decided to come back.

Jack was having a stare down with the crowd. Because there was a moment of brief silence they all, including Seth, Sara, and Alex jumped when when Jack started speaking again. "Now, if you want to be near Seth and Sara I suggest you all give them the room and personal space that they deserve and stop crowding them out. You may approach him slowly one by one and talk to him, but you will not harass him like that. If anyone fails to follow that rule, I will kick them out. Is that clear?"

The crowd nodded quickly and stood absolutely still for fear that if they moved even the slightest Jack would have them kicked out.

"Now," Jack began again when he saw that everyone was calm. "I want you all to form a line and I will call everyone up individually. You'll have two minutes to speak and converse with Seth and then you'll move on to talk to Sara if you wish (which an excited shiver went down the crowds' spines and Sara shivered, not liking being grouped with Seth at the moment amidst fanatics) and then you will move to the side. As the person in front of you moves to Sara I will call another forward. You will _**only **_have two minutes straight! If you do not move directly when I order it, I will have you thrown out. If enough people misbehave I will have you _**all**_ thrown out, and _**no one**_ will see Seth and Sara. Is that clear?"

The crowd nodded emphatically and Jack nodded, glad that they were in line. "Form a line," he ordered. They did as commanded without problem and so the party started. Music began to fill the air and a few balloons even popped. "First one forward," Jack called and he set the timer on his watch and started it.

Seth waited nervously as a boy his age approached him. "Hey! I'm Steve!" he greeted Seth and held out his hand. Seth took it and shook it, now knowing the earth custom, and he got even more nervous when he saw how excited Steve was to meet him. 'It's all right,' he thought to himself. 'Everything is going to be all right.'

For the first half hour of the show, everything went smoothly – well at least smoothly according to Jack and Alex. But Seth was nervous the whole time, fearing that the crowd would all of a sudden rush at him again and crowd him out. Sara seemed to be having the same fear as all the fans that went to Seth went to her next. They spoke with Seth, gave him their gift, and then moved on to Sara all under Jack and Alex's watchful and supervising gaze. A few times the fans stuck around and Jack and Alex had to threaten to have them removed if they didn't comply. But that seemed to do the trick.

The boy calmed down as things went smoothly. Though he didn't get a chance to open his gifts (as he would open them later) he started gaining confidence and comfort. Sara seemed to be feeling the same way.

After the greet with his fans were over (they were only fans and they brought no reporters or paparazzi because no one was allowed to take pictures let alone bring any sort of technology in and they were afraid that those people would sneak it in, the whole show being broadcast since only the studio was allowed to have technology to film them since it was on their set, but they weren't allowed to take pictures, that was the agreement) then Seth and Sara retired quickly to their hotel, the exhaustion shown on their faces. Seth was forced to bring all the gifts (he didn't want them but according to Jack and Alex it was a matter of politeness, and they didn't want to be impolite in the public, fortunately Jack was the only one who conversed with Seth on the matter and Sara and Alex didn't know, and thus the crowd didn't know) and when he got to a hotel he put them all in a bag. They'd mail it home tomorrow so that he could open it there.

Seth fell asleep in an instant.

The next day Seth they stopped at the post office and mailed all of Seth's gifts home, and then they headed towards the airport to catch their flight. First class all the way home was nice, but the boy was eager to get home and get more sleep. He felt strangely exhausted. Tired as he was, he couldn't sleep on the flight though. He resorted to closing his eyes and hoping to get some rest that way, but to his dismay, he didn't. He was awake all throughout the flight.

They were driven home in a limousine which Seth thought was nice. As they walked in the doorway, Seth noticed a brown paper package on the floor. "Jack?" he called out and the man took it from him, eyeing warily.

"Go get some sleep," Jack urged, upon seeing the tired look on Seth's face and the boy nodded, eager to head to his room. When he went there, he just dumped his suitcase on the floor and made a beeline for the bed.

He snuggled under the covers, a look of content on his face. "Ah," he sighed. "It's good to be home! This is what I need, a good night's rest!"

Suddenly Jack burst through the door. "Get downstairs now!" he shouted at the boy. When Seth looked in shock from the statement, he froze in fear. Jack's face was white with horror and Seth had never seen him this afraid before.

"Wh-what?" he asked in confusion. "What's going on?"  
>But Jack rushed over. "Get downstairs now!" he urged him and he reached down, grabbed Seth by the hand and forced the boy to come with him.<p>

"What's going on?" Seth asked again, fear in his eyes, not fighting Jack's grip on his hand. For a moment Seth did not answer, and then he asked Jack again, "What's going on?"

They reached downstairs and Seth saw that his sister was down there, crying in Alex's arms. Fear was on her face and Seth's own turned as white as Jack's

Jack rushed him over and looked at Alex. "What do we do?" he asked looking helpless.

"What's going on?" Seth asked yet again, feeling frustrated that he was left out of the loop. But to his frustration, he didn't get an answer. They ignored him.

"What else can we do than fight it?" Alex replied to Jack's question, uncertainty of the future in her own eyes.

"Fight what?" Seth inquired again only to be ignored again.

Jack cringed at Alex's words. "We'll never win, you know that. It could only lead to worse things for-" Jack never finished his sentence, and Seth felt that they were talking about him and Sara. Since Sara seemed to know what was going on Seth looked at her for an explanation only for her to turn away from him sadly and cry into Alex's arms more.

"Then we hide," Alex replied, trying to be firm, though her voice shook.

"Why?" asked Seth, frustrated that he was being left out. But Jack looked at him in a way that silenced him as if saying 'not now, let us talk' and the boy remained silent, though he was still frustrated and terribly scared.

"Hiding won't do anything. They'll still find us. How did they know?"

Seth was about to say 'know what' but he thought better of it. Just then, Alex shook her head. "We have to try something! Please!" she pleaded and Sara cried out.

But Seth wouldn't stay silent any longer. And he wasn't going to be ignored either. He was afraid and terrified from not being in the know and he cried out, "Tell me what's going on now!"

"Shh!" Alex hushed him with wide eyes, fearful when he did this.

"Don't shush me!" Seth called out wildly. Sara was staring at him, shaking in fear apparently from his actions, and Seth wondered why. "Tell me what's going on!"  
>Jack sighed, staring at Seth in distress. "The government is after you," Jack whispered sadly. "They've threatened to undo the adoptions. Apparently we did something wrong. They knew somehow that you tried to negotiate with us. They said that not only did we not handle your disobedience correctly and we allowed you to get away with it, but they were concerned about your actions in general." Seth's eyes widened even more. How did they know about this? Jack continued. "We think that they can see into the house, listen into the house. They knew other things that they're not supposed to know.<p>

Seth stared at his sister with wide eyes, now knowing why she was afraid of his actions. Even he was afraid. He looked up to Jack, hoping for comfort and guidance. "What do we do?" he choked out, shaking in fear.

Jack shook his head. "We don't know. We've talked about petitioning the government for a second chance, but we would have to do that soon since the hearing is scheduled in couple of days. We lost some time on the trip."

"Hearing?" Seth questioned.

But it was Alex who answered this time. "Before they actually undo the option they've scheduled a hearing to see what's going on. The letter says they won't make any decisions until after the hearing, but we think otherwise. For one, it's deep inside a guarded government top secret base, though not Witch Mountain. It's in Area 51. They may be planning to take you away then and there so that we can't put up any resistance of any kind. But if we don't go, it says that they'll take you away for sure and reclaim you as government property."  
>Seth started shaking and then he started sobbing. He didn't want this! He was frightened. Jack put a comforting arm around his shoulders. "We're going to fight for you," he promised Seth. But the boy was afraid that they wouldn't win.<p>

Jack rubbed the skin and muscles between his eyebrows and Seth looked up at him. "We may need to call for a little help that we wouldn't otherwise call on," Jack murmured.

Alex looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

Jack looked at Alex in distress. "We need to talk to Henry Burke."

**Yes, I know that this is a short chapter and I'm sorry about it. I haven't been feeling well enough to keep up. I know that this isn't my best chapter and I'm sorry about that.**

I hope that you enjoyed it. Don't worry, the kids won't get taken away. It won't end up as bad as it seems. (Maybe I shouldn't have told you that. Oh well.)

**Please read and review! I need some reviews! Tell me what you think of this chapter and any suggestions of what you want to see so that I might incorporate them in, or any questions that you have that need to be answered.**

**Hopefully the new chapter will be out next week since I'm starting on the new one.**

**Please read and review!  
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	4. Chapter 4: Henry Burke and the Cake

**I don't own Race to Witch Mountain.**

Chapter Four: Henry Burke and the Cake

(Seth Point of View)

They were now driving towards Witch Mountain, without even calling Henry Burke to ask permission to come there. Such was the urgency of their trip. They weren't sure how Henry would take it, and if they would get in trouble, even arrested, but at this point, they didn't care. They just wanted to have the chance to talk to him and hope that he would listen since it concerned Seth and Sara.

To their surprise, Henry was waiting for them. "Thinking about trespassing again?" he asked Jack and Alex, though it was not in a threatening way, it was more like a mere question. But when Seth and Sara got out of the vehicle his eyes rested on them and only them, some sort of distant feeling, perhaps love, in his eyes. "Come with me," he ordered Jack and Alex without letting his eyes stray from the children.

The kids had stayed close to Jack and Alex, trembling somewhat, scared of their uncle. Aunt Mary was nowhere to be seen, but once they were inside the mountain she rushed up to them and embraced them into a tight hug before the kids could even react. This made Seth feel somewhat welcome, though he was still wary. "How have you been?" she asked them lovingly, taking their faces in her hands, and Seth was somewhat shocked at her warmth and welcoming nature. He'd thought that she would have held a grudge, after all, he had seen the look on her face when they had let her go and decided to have Jack and Alex for their parents.

"Um," Sara stuttered,

And Seth responded, somewhat shaky as well, "Fine, I guess." He turned away, discomfort creeping inside him again and he didn't dare meet his Aunt Mary's gaze.

She sighed. "Come, let's get you settled in."  
>But Jack and Alex tensed at this. "Settled in?" Jack demanded, and he pushed Seth and Sara behind him, his protective nature coming into play. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.<p>

Mary stared back at him with innocent eyes, as if what she had said was benign. "I only meant that we were providing you with some rooms in our house until this whole mess is sorted out."

"Which mess was started by you," the man growled back, feeling threatened and like they might take Seth and Sara away any second.

"Jack!" Alex warned him, seeing all the guards slowly gathering around. Then she stepped up to him and whispered in his ears, "Think of the kids. It's our actions that got them into trouble."

Jack relaxed some a bit and when Alex was sure that Jack wouldn't do anything else that could possibly endanger the kids she stepped back and took Seth and Sara in each arm, keeping her kids close to her. Seth and Sara seemed to derive some comfort from this, for they were in a situation that was quiet stressful for them, and as the doctor had said, he didn't want them under any stress because of what they had been through. It wasn't healthy for them and they needed time to recover, not only emotionally but physically to, for they were still malnourished despite the fact that Jack and Alex fed them plenty of healthy things and the kids ate it. It was because of the length of time they had endured the abuse and the amount of abuse they had endured. And despite their stomachs being full, they were always hungry. The doctor said that it would be that way for a few years, and that it would take them many more years to recover physically to where they were in at least an okay state. Not that the kids believed him, though Jack and Alex entirely trusted him. The kids didn't really trust any doctors after what they had been through, though ironically they still trusted Timothy Matheson and Andy Pope. Seth wondered if he would see them today...

Henry sighed and it was obvious that he was somewhat impatient to spend some time with his former kids. "Come," he commanded and he led the way to his house.

Seth got his former room back, Sara got her former room back, and Jack and Alex got a spare bedroom, though each of them chose to stay with the kids. Jack went with Seth to his former room, and Alex went with Sara to her former room. No one wanted to be separated at this point. In fact, Jack demanded that they all have one room together so that he and his wife could keep track of their kids and their needs. But Henry denied them, claiming that it would be too crowded and that wasn't good for Seth and Sara. Jack was about to argue more when Alex grabbed his shoulder and shook her head. And so Jack grudgingly dropped it. But they still chose to be with the kids no matter what was said.

Seth sighed as he sat on the familiar bed, his former cage though at one time he didn't know it. The boy was tired and he opted to take a nap.

By the time he woke up Henry was in his room waiting. He sat up quickly, startled, and that was when Henry took notice to that he was awake. "What?" Seth exclaimed. He looked around for his parents, but they weren't there. This only made him more wary and uncomfortable. What had happened? Had Jack and Alex been taken away from him? Was he now Henry Burke's property again?

As Seth looked around wildly, Henry placed a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder. "Peace," he tried to comfort him and as the boy looked into the man's eyes, Seth realized that Henry did indeed know what was ailing Seth, and why he was reacting the way he was. "I asked for a few moments to talk to you alone."

Seth looked away feeling his discomfort grow. "And?" he questioned nervously, mildly. "What is it you want?"

Henry let out a brief sigh. "You have a birthday soon," he told the boy, though it seemed like he was changing the subject. But when Seth glanced back, he could see that it was indeed the subject that Henry had wanted to talk to him about.

"Yes," the boy answered back, cautiously. Then he turned back in confusion. "I thought that that was an inappropriate thing to discuss with an alien pet?"

Henry chuckled briefly and shook his head gently. "And that you would be wrong on. I haven't broken any rules in talking to you about your birthday, and if I give you anything or host a party for you I won't be breaking any rules."

"But isn't that what I got in trouble for?" Seth challenged nervously, not entirely sure that it was a good thing.

But Henry shook his head. "No, that's not what you got in trouble for," he answered back warily, and he paused briefly before subtly telling the boy, "It was other things." The man never clarified and Seth knew better than to ask for it.

There was a brief silence following Henry's curious explanation. Finally, as if growing somewhat impatient, yet still speaking softly to the boy, he asked Seth, "Well?"

Seth jumped a bit and gave Henry a curious look. "I don't understand," he said.

Henry stared at him a bit. "What do you want for your birthday?" he asked Seth and the boy's eyes widened in shock. Henry wanted to give him a present? Really?  
>Seth began stuttering. "I-I," he stammered in shock, not sure what to say back. Should he say no? And even if he did accept it and say yes, he had no idea what he even wanted for his birthday. He had already received a lot of gifts from his delusional fans. "I don't know," he finally breathed out.<p>

Henry snorted, as if saying that he hardly believed that there wasn't something he could give the boy. "Nothing?" Henry questioned. "Not a toy, or clothes, a painting, a picture, anything?"

Seth gave some thought, wondering what to do with the option his uncle had given him. "Well," he replied after a while, still looking away in hard thought. "There might be something.

"And?" the man questioned again, looking interested. "What is it?"

Seth hesitated some, wondering if he even dare ask for this. Finally, Henry placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Tell me," he pleaded to the boy. When Seth still hesitated, Henry reassured him more by saying, "I won't bite, and I won't scold you, I promise."

Seth still waited in fear. "Will you be mad at me?" Seth nervously replied and when Henry shook his head the boy took a deep breath and let it out before admitting, "I'd like several things. For one, I want the charges dropped on Jack and Alex, so that I can continue to be their child. Next, I'd like to be upgraded in status so that I'm treated like a human and the adoption will be like a human adoption, and I'll be able to do things like a normal kid, and be an adult when I grow up, not be looked at like an animal or a child, or like someone incapable of doing things." The boy blurted this all out in a rush, somewhat hoping that Henry could keep up with him, but when he finished be bit his lip softly, waiting for a reply and to be slapped or reprimanded. He still didn't know how Henry would respond to this.

But Henry, true to his word, wasn't mad at him. In fact, he chuckled softly and shook his head slowly, as if what Seth had said was humorous. Then the man sighed. "I only regret that I can't give you what you asked for."

"But it's in your power!" Seth protested, disappointed.

Henry wagged his head. "Not anymore, I'm afraid. After I failed with you and Sara, and more especially after you chose Jack and Alex to be your guardians, thus indicating to the government that you were disloyal to begin with, though I remained the head of Witch mountain I lost a lot of power and influence, and a lot of what used to be my authority was delegated to other people in the government."

"But you started this ordeal!" Seth objected again, and Henry shook his head.

"That may be the case, but it's no longer in my power."

"Not even the alien adoption?" Seth looked at Henry hopefully, wishing that his uncle could at least influence the outcome of that.

But to his disappointment, Henry shook his head again. "More especially that," Henry told him. "I no longer have any authority with anything pertaining to you and Sara. I don't even have influence on the outcome. I'm not involved in any of the decision making and I wasn't involved in the decision making to bring your 'parents' to court."

"Then why am I here if you have no say?" Seth asked curiously.

"Because," was the reply. "And I may even be breaking the rules by doing this, and thus getting in trouble for misusing power. Technically, you're not supposed to be here. But I just wanted to see you."

"And in the process, you're just making the situation worse for us than it already is," the boy griped quietly, even though he knew that Henry could hear him. He regretted it as soon as he said it.

Henry sighed, and placed another comforting hand on his shoulder. The man and his wife had changed a lot since he and Sara had last seen them. The boy could tell. Henry, even though he had his children back, seemed sad at the loss of Seth and Sara, and only then did the boy realize that in the last few weeks he had spent with Henry before Jack and Alex adopted him and during the time that Henry and his wife had come to love the kids, that Henry had been indeed trying for the boy. He had been trying to do what was in his power to please the boy and make him happy, his sister too.

But now Henry and Mary seemed exhausted, seemed tired. They were worn out, he could tell. That, and their longing for Seth and Sara had increased, matured them some. Henry seemed to regret the decisions he'd made especially the ones that hurt the boy and girl more than ever. He seemed to want to repair the damage. But he and Mary now seemed to be able to accept the fact that Seth and Sara were no longer theirs and never would be. They were Jack and Alex's now. It seemed that all they wanted to do nowadays was make Seth and Sara happy, as if hoping that it would repair the damage they did to the kids some and it would help them heal some, and repair their relationship.

A lone tear trailed down Seth's cheek and for the first time he felt comfortable in the presence of his aunt and uncle, even alone. Henry pulled him closer and cradled him and the boy didn't resist. It made him feel relaxed and he seemed to derive comfort from it. But he was scared of what the outcome of the trial would be. "Are they going to take me away from my mommy and daddy?" Seth asked in a small voice, sounding much like a little child. He seemed so frail, so scared, needing the constant reassurance of a loving adult. And right now Henry was that loving adult.

"I don't know," Henry whispered sadly. "I wish I was able to tell you, even if the answer was yes that way you would be prepared and it wouldn't be such a shock."

"What do you think will happen?" the boy turned to face him and Henry looked at him tenderly.

"I don't know," was the reply, and it didn't make Seth feel any better. "Technically, at this point, it could go either way. Jack and Alex have a lot of influence from the outside world and that makes things more favorable for them, but not enough for it to be a definite 'yes' in the outcome and for them to have to release you to them."

"And what will happen to me meanwhile?" Seth asked. He didn't like uncertainty. Would he be put in a cage? Would they whip him some and ask him questions?

But Henry smiled at this. He did know. "You'll be staying with me!" he said gleefully and began tickling the boy. Seth squealed at this and laughed joyfully, trying to squirm out of his uncle's arms, but Henry held him tight and continued to tickle him. Seth fought back, glad that this was a game and he wouldn't get in trouble for that, but he was unable to free himself. Eventually, when his uncle had had his fun, he released the boy.

"All right," Henry sighed. "Get some rest."

Seth snuggled under the covers and Henry pulled them over him more and tucked him in. "Good night, uncle," Seth whispered and Henry smiled.

"Technically, it's good morning."

(A few hours later.)

(Seth Point of View)

Seth had slept for some time, snoring slightly. But when he woke up, he was a little more comfortable about his surroundings, despite the fact that he was in Witch Mountain. It was partially due to the fact that he felt somewhat protected by his aunt and uncle, and then his parents. But he wasn't too happy.

Jack and Alex would be leaving the following day to explain their actions regarding Seth and Sara. Seth was afraid of what would happen there. Would the adoption be revoked? If so, what would happen to him since it was highly unlikely that his uncle would be given jurisdiction over him? Would he be given to some other facility where they more than likely would torture him and possibly murder him?

Seth didn't like the uncertainty, and such was his gloomy condition as he went downstairs to eat.

He knew his way to the kitchen from his time spent with his aunt and uncle previously. Immediately the warm smells of bacon and waffles greeted him and Seth smiled, tail twitching in excitement, his claws coming out of his fingers briefly unnoticed to him (since he had never figured out how to bring his claws out, unlike how he had managed to exercise his tail, since when he was a prisoner to his aunt and uncle they had put a special bracelet on him that prevented his claws from coming out, which bracelet couldn't be taken off, and his aunt and uncle only took it off when they were inspecting his claws. When he was released from captivity from his uncle and when he was adopted by Jack and Alex, he had never figured out how to use his claws, even though he knew that he had them). He hustled over in excitement and sat down.

Jack and Alex were already there, as was Sara, and Jack and Alex politely thanked Mary and Henry for the food. But Seth could sense that there was still some tension between them. Sara and Seth, however, felt no tension which the boy could see unnerved Jack and Alex a bit. Seth didn't know how to reassure them that everything was all right, nor was he sure that he would be able to. Jack and Alex had their doubts. The couple's previous actions towards Seth and Sara made Jack and Alex sure that Mary and Henry weren't a good influence for the kids.

Seth dug in excitedly when Mary cleared her throat. Confused and curious on what it could possibly be that the woman wanted, the boy watched her when Mary announced, "As everyone knows, Seth's birthday is coming up."

The boy groaned inwardly. 'Oh no,' he thought. 'First Alex, then Jack. Not them too.'

"And so," Mary continued to announce. "We want to hold a little private party for Seth and Sara.

Seth was expecting Jack and Alex to completely reject this idea, to protest against it, as they were overly protective of the kids, and rightly so. But to his surprise and dismay, it did the opposite, and it helped to relieve some tension. The problem wasn't that Seth didn't _**want**_ them getting along, the problem lied in that he didn't want a party. 'Great,' he thought. 'More attention to me.' He wasn't entirely confident about himself.

"Sounds good!" Jack announced. "When will it be?"

"Right after our meal," Henry grinned happily and cast an excited glance at the horrified Seth.

The boy did his best to compose his features, but he couldn't stand the thought of a party. He got up slowly. "Um," he told them, trying to find an excuse to get out of it. "I'm feeling tired and I'd really like to take a nap first."

But Henry caught on. "Oh no you don't!" he excitedly exclaimed, and he stood up as well to prevent Seth from going upstairs. 'Great,' the boy thought. 'He knows what I'm trying to do.'

Seth chuckled nervously and looked around, only to find out that he was the only one who opposed the idea. Even his sister was for it! In fact, she had a pouty face when she heard what Seth said. "Come on!" she exclaimed. "This will be different than the public one and it will be fun! Please!"

But Seth shook his head. 'She really believes that?' he thought. 'How can it be different from the public one?' "I don't think so," he shook his head, unwilling to go through with this, and truth be told terrified of the party. Who knows what could happen in a party! Part of him was expecting some wild and crazy fans to pop out of nowhere, crowd him out, and sing him happy birthday. Seth didn't know how he'd handle this! He'd been through enough as it is!

Alex frowned when she saw Seth's reactions as well. "Come on, Seth!" she tried to encourage him kindly. "You're being ridiculous about this! Henry and Mary are at least trying to do something nice for you. The least you could do is allow them to have the party!"

Seth shook his head, but Sara wouldn't take no for an answer, and Seth got the feeling that it was for personal reasons. "Allow me to talk to him," she proposed to them. "I think I could talk some sense into him." And without waiting for permission, she grabbed Seth quickly before he could even move to sneak away and pulled him into the nearest room, shutting the door behind him.

Seth immediately lashed out in a whisper, desperate to get her on his side. "Who's side are you on?"

"Forget about sides!" Sara snapped back. "Stop being so selfish and just do the party!"

Inside the room there were miscellaneous kitchen appliances, plus a box that looked like it covered something. The different appliances were stacked up neatly, polished to a perfection, smelling a lot like lemon kitchen cleaner, and overall it was a nice place smelling of cleanliness and feeling bright and happy.

"Or what?" Seth challenged, upset at Sara's choice. "What will you do?" he tried to provoke her. He grabbed the nearest spoon and put it in his mouth, beginning to suck on it as if it were a lollipop. "Spoon me to death?" he laughed silently at his joke, and Sara did not seem to find it the least funny at all. I mean, the least he could do was try to provoke her for what she did, right?

Sara's eyes widened slightly. "Put that back!" she protested. "And stop touching things that aren't yours!"

"No!" Seth defiantly shot back, being a jerk at the moment. And then he grabbed another spoon and put it in his mouth and began sucking on it.

"Yes!" Sara snarled back, voice raising slightly and she started grabbing for the spoons. But Seth dodged her.

"What are you going to do about it?" Seth teased her, evading her, shoving her hands away, and grabbing yet another spoon. "What are you going to do about it?"  
>Sara began lashing out, fiercer, and managed to grab a spoon that was in his mouth. She yanked it out and Seth grabbed a hold of it, trying to take it back. "Let go of it, Sara!" he told her, trying to keep his voice down. But their voices kept rising slightly.<p>

"No!" Sara lashed back. She pushed him hard, to get him away from her, and Seth banged into the nearest pile of kitchen appliances, stirring spoons, causing them to topple off the wall they were hanged on, clattering down, with a loud, bang, bang, bang!

This time Seth was upset and wasn't about to have her get the best of him. He pushed her back, and the cooking pots clanged down on the other side.

Now a major wrestle happened as Seth tried to get his spoon back, and Sara take the others from him. It lasted only a second. Seth grabbed the spoon and tried to yank it from her, but she wouldn't let go, and she cried out, "Stop Seth!" at the same time that Seth yelled, "Let go Sara!" and one would have wondered from all the noise that they were making why no one came to investigate sooner.

Seth pulled the spoon. Sara pulled the spoon. Finally, the second halfway over, the spoon launched from both of their hands, hitting the front of the platter the box was on, and the box launched over their heads. But what was inside the box launched towards none other than the kids. Sara ducked, only getting white and blue contents on her, but the rest of it landed on a shocked Seth with a 'splat'! Blue, green, yellow, and white contents were pooled all over him.

To make matters only worse the door opened right at that moment and the kids did their best to stare up innocently at Jack, Alex, and a horrified Henry, and an even more horrified Mary who had obviously spent a lot of precious time on the contents now splattered on Seth.

"The cake!" Mary gasped, white in shock, and Jack and Alex looked down in a displeased manner at the kids, arms crossed. Mary, who's feelings were hurt, walked off, and the white-faced Henry followed her, feeling a bit hurt as well.

Seth laughed nervously as Jack and Alex continued to look sternly at the both of them. "So," he asked nervously, hoping it would be a distraction, as innocently as he could. "Who's ready for a party?"

**I'm sorry. I know this is a short chapter, but I needed to update since I haven't for a while. Sorry about the wait.**

**What did you think of it? I tried to add some humor in it. I really wanted Seth to get some cake all over him!**

_**Please, please, pretty please don't abandon me! Leave a review when you read or skim this, pleas**__**e! PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP!**_


	5. Chapter 5: Abandonment and Goodbye

**I don't own Race to Witch Mountain.**

**I apologize for not updating this story as I should, but I will make the updates regular now. I will be rotating between all my stories and update all of them.  
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**Here is the next part of Redemption that I know that you have waited so long for. Thank you for your patience. Please review when you're done!  
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Chapter Five: Abandonment and Goodbye

(Seth Point of View)

The poor boy felt extremely embarrassed for his actions. It made him feel as if he was the worst child in the world. As he went upstairs, exiling himself because of his actions, Jack followed him, a forgiving and understanding look in his eyes. Even Aunt Mary and Uncle Henry had been forgiving towards them. So while Alex went to go comfort Sara (who likewise didn't want to be comforted due to the fact that both of them had let Jack and Alex, and now Mary and Henry down), Jack went after Seth to see if he could talk some sense into him, and get the boy to spend some time with them before they left for their trial.

Seth wondered when he would ever feel better, when he would ever feel confident again. Since his kidnapping incidents his confidence had really gone down and he was no longer bold like he used to be. He felt so exposed, so helpless, and he felt like it he couldn't stand up to bullies anymore, even if those bullies were government officials. He didn't know when he would be able to have his confidence back, if he ever could get it back.

As Seth lay on his bed Jack sat beside him. "Hey," he greeted the boy. "You know that I don't like seeing a frown on your face. Are you going to at least smile for me?"  
>Seth shook his head, feeling depressed. Truth be told he wasn't in the mood for anything right now, even if it was comfort. But as Jack began rubbing his back in an effort to console him, Seth relaxed some. Finally he turned to the man and voiced one of his greatest fears. "Are you going to come back?" he asked the man, hoping for a certain answer. "What's going to happen next?"<br>Jack hesitated, clearly sensing what Seth wanted, and the reassuring comfort that he needed that he didn't know if he could provide it honesty. The man sighed. "You and I both know that if I give you the answer of 'yes' that I will be coming back, it would be a lie. Truth is, none of us know. For all I know Alex and I could come back. But at the same time, for all I know we may never come back."

"Don't leave!" Seth begged with a pleading expression, feeling much like a child that is going to be abandoned by ones parents, and it was exactly that but it was different because it was unintentional. Jack and Alex didn't have a choice and Seth knew that, as well as his sister.

As the boy turned around to plead his cause, a desperate expression of pre-abandonment on his face, the boy started crying and Jack tenderly wiped his tears. "Don't cry, Seth," he murmured softly, trying to console his ailing son. "For all I know I may come back."

"And as you said you may not come back," Seth continued to weep.

Seth could tell that Jack didn't know what to say to comfort him. And Seth could see the worry on Jack's face for him. He could also tell that Jack knew that he felt abandoned, even if Jack and Alex hadn't done anything already. "It's not fair!" Seth complained. "First I found out that the people who were hurting me were my own blood kin and that they didn't love me because I was an alien. Then I find out that my birth parents lied to me all along. They may as well have abandoned me. Then all of a sudden I find out that the people who were hurting me all of a sudden love me again like they did when I was young, but they still have views on me such as that I can't take care of myself and that I need help and protection every step of the way. They've been so controlling!" As he said this Seth felt the feelings of his parents' betrayal sweep through him again, the pain of their lies coursing through his veins. Seth looked up at Jack. "The only ones I can ever trust are you and Alex," he whispered sadly.

Meanwhile Jack was looking around in alarm due to what Seth was saying. "Shh," he tried to comfort the boy. "Don't let them hear what you said. They may not like it and it may put you in danger."

"I'm always in danger," Seth muttered and Jack shook his head in fear and alarm at the boy's response. "They never let me express myself anyways."

Jack abruptly put a hand over the boy's mouth when Seth was finished talking. "Be careful," he warned the boy in a whisper. "I want to be able to take you home but if you do that they may not let me."

Seth looked away. "I never have freedom here," he grumbled. "I never have freedom anywhere." But when the boy saw exactly how alarmed Jack was he stopped talking and instead started sobbing again, his emotions running through him like a car going crazy speeds. "It's not fair!" he whined more. "I want to stay with you and Alex! I want to stay with you and Alex!"

"I know," Jack replied softly. "And we will come back," he promised. "One way or another."  
>Seth looked up at him. "Really?" he whispered.<p>

Jack smiled kindly. "Really."  
>"You promise?" Seth looked into his eyes, wanting reassurance that he would see his father again and that he wouldn't be abandoned permanently into Henry Burke's hands.<p>

"I promise," the man gave his word sincerely and Seth felt overjoyed temporarily before the reality of where he was at dawned on him again. "One way or another Alex and I will come home to you or you will come home to us."

Seth nodded, hoping that Jack would be able to fulfill his promise.

A sudden knock was heard on the door and Henry entered, pity on his face when he saw the emotional state that Seth was in. "It's time," he informed the man. "The authorities are here to pick you up. If you win the case then they'll drop you off back here so that you can pick Seth and Sara up." Seth noted how careful the man was being, meaning more than likely that they were being watched by other people in the government. Thus why he had said 'Seth and Sara' and not 'your children' or something else like that. Henry couldn't state his beliefs or else he would be in trouble, and Jack and Alex would be in even more trouble for that matter.

Jack sighed, reluctant to leave his son and daughter in the clutches of the same man and woman who had hurt them previously. Jack loved Seth and Sara more than he could possibly express, and it hurt him to leave them behind, especially when he saw the abandoned look on Seth's face. Yes, the boy knew that he wasn't purposely abandoning him and that he didn't mean to hurt him, and that Jack didn't have a choice in the matter, but it still hurt the boy beyond words, and the uncertain future was harder on his kids than it was for Jack and Alex. Jack and Alex could face it, come what may. But Seth and Sara? That was another thing in and of itself.

With a final hug and a nod at Henry Jack got up, ready to leave and get things over with. But Seth wouldn't have it. There was shock on the boy's face when Jack hugged him, presumably a possible last hug, and for a moment the boy stood stalk still as Jack got up and began walking away. But in a moment that shock was over.

"NO!" Seth screamed and tore the covers off him, they falling to the floor and he knew his sister had heard him. Tears running rampant down his face, he ran into the arms of Jack and held on as if for dear life. "NO!" he shouted. "I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU! I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU! DO NOT LEAVE ME! DO NOT LEAVE ME!" The poor screaming wail of his sister was heard and the gentle screech, screech of boots in the distance, as well as the soft murmurs of Aunt Mary trying to comfort the girl.

The boy refused to let go and he clung on for dear life. "Seth," Jack murmured softly, trying to coax the boy and the man could see how his leaving was ripping the heart out of Seth. It was devastating for the poor boy, especially considering the fact that Seth knew that he may not see him again. "You know that I have to do this," the man whispered. "For us, so that we can be a family again." and he hugged the boy and whispered this into Seth's ears in case if people were listening in they wouldn't be able to hear the encouragement he was trying to give the poor sobbing Seth, who had his eyes closed and was clinging onto Jack so hard that it was difficult for the man to breathe. "You have to let me go."  
>"NO!" Seth shouted, eyes closed and grasping Jack harder, making Jack gasp in pain. "I WILL NOT! I WILL NOT!"<br>At this point Henry must have seen that it was needful for him to interfere. "Seth," he cautioned. "Think of what the government might say since they're more than likely watching. They won't like it if Jack and Alex don't show up. Your parents would lose the right to you permanently and you'd be back in the hands of the US government. Do you want that? I don't think so. Plus, what you're doing would be considered an act of disobedience and that will get a lot of people in trouble. Think of others, please."

Seth, devastated and finding this hard to accept, shook his head. "No," he moaned softly, not willing to let go, and Jack, in a time restraint began slowly moving out of the room and out the door, despite the fact that Seth was practically glued to him. It was difficult for he had to basically drag Seth out, who had dug his feet as hard as he could in the floor from his emotional pain of abandonment, and Seth weighed a lot making it a whole lot more difficult. Once in the white hallway Seth observed that his sister was already out there – had already been out there, and that she was also hugging Alex for dear life, not wanting to let go.

Jack moved next to Alex who, with little strength, couldn't drag both her and her daughter over Jack. "Time to let go," Alex kindly told her daughter who wailed in pain and grabbed onto Alex more. Both she and Seth started crying even more.

"NO! NO!" Sara shouted, clearly unable to cope with the situation as well. "I WON'T LET GO! I WON'T LET GO!"

"Sara," Henry cautioned gently, trying to coax his former children who were now his niece and nephew once more, to follow the orders given them. "Do what you're told. It's for your own good. You need to let them go so that they can come back to you."  
>"But if we let them go they may never!" Seth objected strongly and buried his head in Jack's chest as he began crying. Poor Jack didn't know what to do because though he needed to pull Seth away from him his compassionate instinct was to pull Seth closer and comfort him as he cried.<p>

But Henry knew that it was also needed, so, gently, he and Mary stepped forward, Henry to Seth since as a young boy he'd be stronger than his sister, and the couple began pulling Seth and Sara away.

They immediately began wailing in pain, not wanting to relinquish their grip on their parents, and it caused some fear in them to have their parents ripped away from them. The two fought against Henry and Mary and desperately tried to cling onto Jack and Alex at the same time, but Jack and Alex were gently pulling them away so that they could leave. "NO!" the kids shouted, who were now completely peeled away from their parents and were fighting desperately to get back to them. "NO!" Mary and Henry gently held them back and Jack and Alex eyed them lovingly one last time.  
>"We love you," they told their children. "We'll be back soon."<p>

"NO!" they shouted back, desperate to get back to them as they began disappearing, following some of Henry's men to wherever their ride waited. As Seth and Sara fought there was a devastated look on their faces, and the pain and the hurt they felt made Henry and Mary almost tear up.  
>They fought for some time and finally Seth couldn't stand it anymore. He was exhausted. He lay back in Henry's arms, sobbing at the traumatic incident. Just when he greatly needed his parents, they were taken away from him. Henry held him, gently rocking him back and forth, trying to comfort him.<p>

Finally, the boy couldn't stand it anymore. Exhausted, he collapsed on the floor, still weeping hard and Henry knelt beside him. He was completely oblivious to his surroundings, including his sister, except for Henry. He had been oblivious while in Henry's arms for some time. But even then, Henry couldn't help him.

Time passed and Henry let Seth weep, as he needed to. But there came a point when he couldn't allow it, couldn't have him lying on the floor like that anymore. "Come," he coaxed his nephew, and the boy, who was exhausted beyond measure, didn't get up. He merely remained there. Exhausted, Henry sighed and he picked the boy up, letting him rest, as he needed to, and he took him to his room, placing him in his bed and covering up him up with blankets so that the boy could rest.

Seth felt exhausted, so much so that he couldn't say a word while Henry did this. Such was his grief. Sighing, uncomfortable and terrified of the future, he cried himself to sleep.

By the time Jack had left Seth was in tears. Unable to cope with the situation he stayed in his room, unwilling to come out despite the coaxing he received from his Aunt Mary and Uncle Henry. He was simply too depressed to go out and deal with the situation. When his cousins came to visit him in his room, as he was not allowed to visit them in Mary and Henry's home outside the facility due to the fact that he was a full-blooded alien, he refused to talk to them and ignored their presence. He didn't find anything comforting.

Seth wanted to see his mom and dad, to know that Alex and Jack still loved him. Everything good that had happened to him previously all of a sudden felt like a dream and he felt like Jack and Alex had abandoned him even though he knew cognitively that it wasn't the case. But he couldn't help but to feel that way.

Time passed and still the boy did not come out of his room or talk to anyone. He could tell that the others were getting worried about him and his sister who remained silent in their respective rooms, but they didn't care at that point. They just wanted to mourn.

Henry gently knocked on the door. "Seth?" he called out in his concerned tone and as usual Seth ignored it. "Do you want to go to the gym?"

'This place has a gym?' he thought in surprise even though he was uninterested. But he couldn't help but think that it was amazing that Henry would even consider him letting him use a gym in this facility since aliens weren't allowed to have fun. 'He would let me use the gym?'

When Seth continued to ignore the man, Henry must have become immediately concerned for he opened the door softly and his soft steps toward the bed were heard. Seth refused to face the man and instead a tear trickled down his cheek, distress from everything evident on his face.

"Seth?" Henry questioned again, sitting on the bed and a gentle hand was placed on his shoulder. "Please talk to me. I'm really, really worried about you and so is Mary. What's wrong?"  
>"You know what's wrong," Seth replied quietly and he went back to ignoring the man.<p>

Henry sighed. "You know that we're trying to make up for what happened, what we did. I do hope that you get Jack and Alex back because they've been good to you." As the man said this the boy wondered how much of a risk Henry was taking in revealing that to him.

Henry sighed and then looked at his watch. "You do realize that it's time for dinner?" he told the boy and Seth shook his head, uninterested. But with a warning look on Seth's face the boy got up, and headed to a different meal, that looked like a dining room, to eat his meal.

It wasn't until the plate was placed in front of him that the boy realized how hungry he really was. And when Sara walked in it only made his day more, and he found that he could start smiling some. Sara seemed to take some encouragement from this and a smile lit her face, and the two began conversing about baseball, a new sport that they had learned about, and the odds of certain teams winning this year.

Mary, meanwhile, rolled her eyes. "Great, they got into sports just like Henry's into sports," she muttered in annoyance, but there was still a fond motherly look on her face when she looked at them. "Men," she sighed. "And children apparently."

Seth glanced over at her, curious at her comment, but unhurt and unoffended by it. Then his attention turned back to his sister who was now discussing the odds that certain football teams would win that year.

Seth eventually felt tired, the effects of his earlier crying spree only now wearing down on him. Yawning, having sat at the table for around an hour, he got up. "I'm headed to bed for the day," he announced.

Henry nodded. "You do that. You look tired."

Seth yawned again, and nodded getting up from his chair and finding his way back to his room, slightly more comfortable than he was before. By the time he reached his bedroom he was almost asleep, and by the time he reached his bed and covered himself with the blankets, he was asleep.

(The next day)

(Sara Point of View)

Sara woke up feeling somewhat funny, and then when she looked down at herself she noticed little bright red bumps covering her. Freaking out, she called out, "Aunt Mary! Uncle Henry! Quick!"

The two came rushing in, and when Henry saw the bumps all over her he sighed. "I guess I should have known and prepared for something like this to happen. But my mind never went to the fact that you two might have not only a lower immune system than others on earth, but that you haven't been vaccinated like others have been."

Sara tilted her head, curious and feeling queasy. "This isn't normal," she responded nervously. "What's wrong with me?" Feeling a strange sensation, and feeling like scratching would relieved it, she immediately started rubbing her face, trying to make the sensation stop.

"Don't!" Mary murmured softly, taking her hands and putting it by her side. Meanwhile, Henry had sat down in the girl's rocking chair, as if low on energy, and he put his head in his hands, seemingly tired and worn out from the previous day. When the man yawned Sara knew that her suspicions there had been right.

"But I want this sensation to go away!" Sara complained. "What is this annoying and terrible sensation?"  
>"You're itchy," Mary replied calmly, gently. "It goes with the illness, I'm afraid."<p>

"Itchy?" Sara tilted her head in confusion. She had never had to deal with such a sensation before. And since her people had never known illness before, even though they knew cognitively about it existing on earth, for some had been there and had witnessed what it could do, Sara hadn't known what to expect. Her people didn't have illness on their world and thus they didn't get sick. Or rather on her former world, since earth was her world now upon being adopted by Jack and Alex. And despite her former people's journeying to this world, they had miraculously never managed to pick it up and pass all the diseases, illnesses, and parasites onto this world, which was surprising considering that her former people, and thus her, did not have particularly strong immune systems as they had never had to deal with illnesses before, and thus their immune systems, if they even had one, had never had to work before.

But upon hearing that she was ill, Sara began freaking out, remembering all the stories she had heard when living on her world, about how millions of earth people each year died from these 'illnesses'. Her people had specifically pointed out how these illnesses reduced the population of the planet, and this had especially been a concern of theirs during the time that her former people had considered invading earth. They had been worried that their soldiers would get ill and die, and thus they would have had a reduction in numbers. In fact, the only reason that her people had doctors was because injuries did occur, even if it was rare for her people considering how durable their bodies were, and thus everyone had doctors so that if injury ever did occur, then they had immediate access to medical care. And injury did occur with everyone at least a few times in their lives. Usually it was minor injuries, however. And the girl suddenly wondered how much of this resistance Mary had inherited, she being half Cortan.

But at least her people did know somewhat about how their bodies worked, thus why she and her brother went to doctors on her planet without her parents knowing back when they had come from earth the first time, due to the unusual pains they were having then. They had hoped that the doctors would be able to solve it, especially without informing their former parents.

"Am I going to die?" Sara gasped, starting to panic as she thought on these things.

At this reaction Mary started chuckling some in amusement. "Of course not!" she explained, and Henry, who had sat in one of Sara's rocking chairs, snored slightly, having apparently fallen asleep. "You just won't feel well for some time I'm afraid. It's true that it's not pleasant, but everyone goes through this, you at a later age than others because you weren't born on this world and didn't have to deal with this kind of stuff." The woman got up, apparently getting ready to leave. "I suppose I should see if Seth's ill since it's contagious."

Sara tilted her head curiously, secretly scratching her arms underneath the covers so that Mary wouldn't know. "What's contagious?" she asked.

"It means that it's highly passable from person to person," the woman explained, and when she noticed what Sara was doing, she reprimanded quickly, "Don't do that! You'll only make it worse!" Then she explained further, "If you have it then chances are that Seth has it."  
>"But what is it?" Sara asked, wanting more detail as to what was going on with her.<br>Mary shrugged, compassionate, but not really concerned that it would harm her. "Standard childhood illness."

"Which is?" Sara asked.

"Chickenpox. Everyone gets it. I had it when I was six."

"Chickenpox?" Sara whispered the word and looked down at herself, wondering if the little bright red dots would ever go away. "Why do they itch so much?"

"Well," Mary began. "I'm no biologist or doctor, so I don't really know why. All I know is that it's part of the illness." The woman sighed, suddenly seeming worn out. "I'll go get some calamine lotion to see if that will help with the itching, though I doubt it will. In my personal experience and my experience in raising six children, five of whom have gotten it, it never worked. But it's worth a try."

Sara began scratching more at this and when Mary turned around she immediately stopped. "Don't do that," Mary warned. "You'll scratch yourself sore, sweetie. I'm afraid that you're just going to have to let the illness run its course."

And with that Mary left, Henry still asleep in the chair, and Sara lay down feeling exhausted and scratching herself, whether or not Mary liked it. It was true that scratching temporarily relieved the sensation, but then it would come back again and she would have to scratch again to relieve it. Her throat felt sore some, and she wondered if she would ever feel normal again.

But when Mary came back in with the calamine lotion, applying it to her face and arms, it felt somewhat like a massage and Sara managed to relax some.

"You'll need to stay in bed," Mary informed her. "I don't want you around anyone else because it could then pass to Seth. I don't want your brother getting sick."

"Is Uncle Henry all right?" the girl questioned, looking at her uncle.  
>Mary sighed. "He's all right, or he's going to be. He's just tired. That's all."<p>

Sara looked curiously back at Mary when the woman had finished applying the calamine lotion. "Are you sure that I will be all right?" she asked once more, needing the reassurance.

But Mary only smiled kindly down at her. "Of course, sweetie," she replied. Then she sighed, also exhausted. "Get some rest," she urged the girl. "You'll need it."

**Yeah! I know it's been some time since I updated, and I apologize. I know I should have been more responsible, more on top of this story, and I should have updated more frequently. **

**But thankfully, the updates will be frequent now, hopefully, as I'll be rotating between my stories and updating them each in order. But I will be updating all of them.  
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**The next on my list to update is my Forbidden Kingdom story. Wish me luck!  
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**Please read and review! I would really appreciate reviews as I generally lack reviews. And I will stay on top of this story.  
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**Until next time my readers!**

**Firestar'sniece  
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	6. Chapter 6: Illness

**I don't own Race to Witch Mountain**.

Chapter Six: Illness

(Sara Point of View)

Sara moaned in fear. The bright red bumps covered her all over, and though Aunt Mary and Uncle Henry had assured her that it wouldn't last, that it would go away eventually, she still wasn't sure what to think. Would they ever go away? The sure looked permanent.

She was told not to scratch herself, that it wasn't healthy. But Sara didn't know what else to do. Aunt Mary had been right. The calamine lotion hadn't alleviated any of the "itchiness", or so that was what they called it.

'How can anyone on earth deal with something like this?' she thought to herself, still confused that something such as this could exist when her world wasn't used to bacterial illness, or anything of the such. They were used to occasional injuries, thus why everyone had doctors, but they weren't used to this where someone could get sick and die. Sara had heard lots of horror stories when it came to illnesses on earth, how illnesses would wipe out massive amounts of the population. Though Henry and Mary tried to reassure her that this wouldn't happen, and that this was just a mild disorder or condition, Sara secretly hoped that she wouldn't become another casualty.

It was uncomfortable just lying there. Her body ached everywhere and she wished that the pain would go away. It was miserable. Truth be told, all she could think of lately was misery anyways. Her life sucked. Now that the only people she trusted to be her parents had been taken away she didn't know what she was going to do. She didn't know what to think either. Should she trust Aunt Mary and Uncle Henry? And what if they wanted to hurt her again? What should she do? Should she run? Or should she bear it as patiently as she could and hope that Jack and Alex would return to her, and that rescue would come.

But what if Jack and Alex didn't return to her? And what if Aunt Mary and Uncle Henry started beating her again? What should she do then? Sara didn't know what to do in such a situation. She was such a mess, physically and emotionally since the trauma that had occurred.

But now that she thought on things there was some joy in her life. Jack and Alex always tried to say things that would make her laugh, and they always tried to make her and her brother smile. And before they had been summoned to appear in court they had succeeded. Jack would say the funniest and odd things, like the sun was made of gold, and the sky was the ocean and the ocean was the sky, even though he knew it wasn't true. It was these kind of weird things he said to try to make them laugh and lighten them up a little, and it succeeded.

Sara thought on these things, trying to lift her mood. 'Jack, Jack,' she thought fondly of her father. 'Where do you get these amusing ideas from?'

The girl sighed. Looking at a clock, and scratching at the bumps a little without realizing it she saw that it was now near lunchtime. As if right on cue the door opened and Mary came in. "How are you doing, sweetheart?" she murmured softly, a tray of food in one hand which she set down on the desk. "Would you like to come over here to eat or would you like your food in bed?"

"In bed," Sara replied, yawning a little. She had forgotten how exhausted she was. "What's on the tray to eat?"

Mary smiled. "Let it be a surprise!"

Though Sara didn't know what it was, it sure did smell good. And as the tray was opened in front of Sara's eyes she saw soup (why they would give her soup for breakfast she didn't know), crackers, and some eggs on the side. Sara looked curiously at Mary.

"It's chicken noodle soup," the woman explained. "It's sort of a tradition when one gets chicken pox that one eats chicken noodle soup."

Sara was still confused and gazed at Mary with a confused expression. "Never mind," Mary murmured softly, gently. Sara then turned to eating.

She had to admit, the food was good. Though she still didn't understand what seemed like a custom or tradition in eating chicken noodle soup when one had chicken pox (she thought it was odd since it didn't make any logical sense) she mulled it over in her head, wondering if it had anything to do with the fact that 'chicken' pox and 'chicken' noodle soup both had the word 'chicken' in it.

'Is chicken pox caused by chickens?' she wondered, remembering that bird flu came from birds and she looked down at her soup suspiciously, a little shiver going down her spine. Then she remembered that she got the 'chicken pox' before she had even first tasted any chicken noodle soup. She couldn't have gotten it from the soup she was eating. But she still wondered if chicken pox came from chickens.

The girl sighed. 'Their logic seems to defy me,' she thought exhaustively, her mind still foggy from lack of sleep due to the recent events and what she had gone through from whatever illness she had picked up.

Unconscious of what she was doing, the girl began scratching again like she had been doing a million times during the middle of the night. "Don't," Mary gently warned. "You'll only make things worse."

When Sara heard this she looked down, not realizing what she had been doing until now. But she could feel the itchiness through and through. "It itches!" she complained mildly, moping that she wasn't allowed to scratch which would alleviate the symptoms.

"I know," Mary tried to comfort her in her motherly manner. "But it isn't good for you to do that. Believe me; I know what it's like. I've been there."  
>"You have?" Sara surprisingly looked up curiosity burning in her bright blue eyes.<p>

Mary smiled. "Yes, in fact I remember mentioning that to you the other day."

"Oh," Sara replied, her voice dull again. She looked away, her body sagging in depression. "I forgot."

Mary sighed and sat next to her, putting her arm around her. As she did this Sara remained emotionless, the gentle honey smell of what must have been her Aunt's shampoo wafting towards the girl's nose. Sara inhaled and the scent calmed her some. It felt like home. Her body immediately relaxed some, and the girl could feel her muscles letting go. Gently, Sara put her head on Mary's shoulder's taking in the comfort. "I know that you've been through a lot," Mary's calm voice came to her. "And I'm sorry for the past. I do love you, you know." The woman gently kissed the top of her head and tears ran down Sara's cheek slowly as she remembered the past. She still wasn't healed from it. It had been so traumatic for her.

But she was also a lot more comfortable around her aunt and uncle than she used to be. They had changed some, for her and her brother. She could feel it. They were kinder to her and they wanted better for her. "This is a cruel world sometimes," Sara whispered, some emotions that were deep inside her sticking inside her despite the fact that Sara tried to let them out so that she could weep. But they didn't want to come out and they wouldn't, and she was unable to force them. She couldn't even identify the emotions.

"It is," Mary admitted. "It's a cruel universe at times."

"Why does it have to be so?" Sara asked, closing her eyes and craving the comfort that she was receiving. She had received lots of comfort from Jack and Alex, but now that they were not here to give it she needed someone else to give it. That and she needed the comfort that could only come from Mary and Henry. She needed it from them because they were the ones that had hurt her. Jack and Alex wouldn't understand because they hadn't been through it, and if Sara or Seth tried to explain that they needed to see Mary and Henry for that comfort, that they simply _**needed**_ it, they wouldn't let them go because they wouldn't understand. In Jack and Alex's eyes, they would be protecting the kids. Sara acknowledged that Jack and Alex wouldn't have meant to harm them in this manner and that they were only trying to protect them, but at the same time that didn't help them get any better and that didn't help them get what they needed. So in a way it was good that she had come here, that way she could get the comfort they needed. After all, the only reason they were here was because Jack and Alex didn't have a choice but to come here.

The girl sighed. Her thoughts now dwelt on her current family, Jack and Alex. "How long until I find out if I can go home again?" she asked.

"Not long, hopefully," came the reply from Mary, her voice sweet and compassionate, which Sara appreciated.

"And what if I can't go home?" These thoughts had been lingering in Sara's mind and as she looked up at Mary, the woman's arm still gently around her, the girl's eyes wide with fear showing in them, Mary gently stroked her.

Mary gently pulled Sara's head towards her and whispered in her ear, "I'm sure it will work out in your favor, especially with the recent intel on their trial that's leaked in. Between you and me, Jack and Alex have been putting up a fight for you and to keep you, along with a fight to give you and other aliens equal rights like humans. And they seem to be succeeding." Sara's eyes ran around, looking at various things excitedly. She might get to go home?! Suddenly her dream of being with Jack and Alex seemed closer to reality that it had been a little bit ago.

"But you mustn't let anyone know that I told you that," Mary continued to whisper in her ear. "Or it could end in a disaster. I wasn't supposed to tell you that, but I knew you needed to know."

Sara breathed heavily, excited. She was going to go home! She was going to go home! "Don't get your hopes up, though," and Mary gently kissed the top of her hear again, bringing Sara close to her again so that she could rock her back and forth and cradle her. "I don't want you getting disappointed should anything else happen."

Sara nodded in understanding, knowing where her Aunt was coming from. After all, Mary was wise enough to know that if Jack and Alex didn't succeed then Sara and Seth would be so disappointed and would probably sink into a worse depression, one that they couldn't get out of or heal from – ever. And she was probably right. Mary and Henry knew that Sara and Seth needed Jack and Alex, and they acknowledged that. And for that reason they were secretly fighting and praying for them, that Jack and Alex would succeed and get to take Sara and Seth home. They wanted Sara and Seth to be happy, especially after everything they had done to them. They had sincere regret in hurting them. They loved them.

Sara sighed. "I'm tired," she yawned and Mary gently set her down and put the covers over her.

"Get some rest, my little one," she murmured softly and Sara's eyes began closing.

But there was still something she wanted to ask. "Mary," she whispered groggily, almost as if she had been drugged.

"Yes?" the woman questioned back, curious as to what her former daughter wanted, and concerned for her. The woman asked it in wariness, almost as if she was wondering if she could provide an appropriate yet honest and truthful answer to whatever her niece wanted to ask, without having to give her something that could throw her into a worse depression.

"Do you think my mommy and daddy will come back? In all honesty? In your personal opinion?"

The woman hesitated, and Sara could see that Mary was having trouble producing an answer. "I don't know," she replied. "I believe so, things are certainly turning in their favor, but I am also aware that the tides can turn again at any time. But I want to believe it." She added the last part warily, looking around as if she was paranoid that she was being watched, and she was probably right. She looked like she feared and regretted saying the last part.

"Oh," Sara replied at the whole answer, no emotion in her voice. Then again she was stressed and very tired.

Mary eyed her empathetically. "Get some rest, sweetheart."

Sara nodded again, sighed. "Good night, Aunt Mary."

Mary smiled. "Good night, sweetheart."

(Seth Point of View)

Seth groaned slightly, watching the whole room nervously. On a sudden impulse he began scratching his arm, unable to resist, despite the fact that his uncle Henry Burke had told him not to. "You'll only make the itching worse," he had said, and from what was said Seth had inferred that the sensation that was new to him was called 'itching'.

The boy sighed. "Why does this have to happen to me?" he moaned aloud, not in pain, but slightly miserable from this 'chicken pox'; or at least that is what Henry Burke had called it.

'Chicken pox,' the boy thought in annoyance. 'Great.' After all, this was certainly the last thing he needed when he was already going through enough. Why did it have to happen now?  
>The bright little red bumps itched all over and Seth hated thinking about it. "Get some rest," he had been told by his aunt and uncle. But how could he rest? He was so itchy! It was as if they didn't understand, yet they claimed they did because, said they, that they had been through it before, and they knew what it was like.<p>

But if they knew what it was like, then why were they telling him that? Why were they telling him to get rest if they knew he would be unable to because he was so itchy all over?! Either that, or, if they were even telling him the truth, which Seth wondered, they didn't understand because the disease affected aliens differently. Or did it?  
>Seth was so frustrated! He couldn't even obey a simple command as 'get rest' because of his situation! Continuing to scratch himself because he was unable to help it even though they had put calamine lotion on him, he tossed around a bit, his muscles aching from the disease.<p>

It was unpleasant. Seth honestly didn't know why they even bothered putting calamine lotion on him when they admitted themselves that it probably wouldn't do anything. So why put it on him? What was the point of that? It didn't make any logical sense! Could it be tradition, like the chicken noodle soup thing? If so, it didn't make any rational sense at all!

As he was in this unrested state, slightly distressed at his circumstances, he heard a mellifluous knock on the door, a relief in his heart that he had company again to attend him through this trial. Quickly, he stopped itching, hoping they'd never notice that he had been. But he highly doubted that because Henry Burke had good eyes and was a good judge of character, and thus he would pick up on these things. But would he get punished for disobedience because he had disobeyed Henry's direct order not to scratch himself? He sincerely hoped not. Immediately he regretted having scratched himself.

Henry opened the door, and Seth, who was exhausted, looked up at him. "How are you feeling?" the man asked, coming over and sitting on his bed.

The boy sighed. "I'm fine, I think," he lied, and Henry, who gazed at him sternly in a reprimanding manner to scold him warned, "Seth-"

"Okay! Okay!" the boy finally gave in. "I'm itchy all over! I've never had to deal with disease before! I miss my mom and dad and I want to go home! I'm scared!"

Henry nodded, understanding in his eyes. "You've been scratching yourself, haven't you?" he asked the boy when he looked down and saw how red the boy's arms were.

Seth looked away. "Maybe," was the answer.

"Seth..." Henry let himself trail off, his calm but reprimanding manner coming out again though he gazed at Seth kindly and with genuine concern. The boy sighed, looking away, his eyes closing and Henry held his hand.

"I couldn't help it!" the boy pled, finally, eyes still closed. He was terribly tired. "I was so itchy and the calamine lotion didn't do anything! I didn't know what to do!"

Henry gently stroked the boy's hair and replied, "I can understand it. I've been there to you know. And yes, calamine lotion really doesn't do anything." His reply was sympathetic and kind.

Seth opened his eyes, suddenly curious. "Then why did you put it on if you knew it wouldn't work? That doesn't make any logical sense."  
>Henry shrugged. "I honestly don't know why. I guess it's because that's what everyone does. Or rather that's what everyone does for their children."<p>

Seth admitted that he was honestly confused at this point. Henry only did it because others did it, even though it did absolutely nothing? Why on earth would someone do that? As Henry saw Seth's confused expression, which looked so cute at the moment (Seth didn't realize this) he chuckled in amusement. "Never mind," the man answered. "You don't get it and I don't know if you'll ever get it."  
>This only turned out a cuter more confused expression from Seth. "Never mind," Henry replied again and Seth finally let it go.<p>

"So," Henry began, changing the subject and Seth wondered if he was only doing this so that he could get the boy's mind off of the disease he was suffering and how much he itched. If that was what Henry was doing then the boy sincerely hoped that it would work. He needed something like that to work. "What's been on your mind lately?"

This wasn't the change of subject that Seth had wanted. Though the boy knew that Henry was only trying to help, this wasn't helping. It was only reminding him of the other kind of pain and suffering he was going through, even though it was mild compared to the trauma that had previously occurred to him. It only reminded him that he was stuck here and that there was a possibility that he might never see his parents again, that he might never see Jack and Alex again. But he had a dim hope, especially after what Aunt Mary had mentioned to him. Jack and Alex were fighting for him and for this he was grateful to them for and proud of them, like a son proud of his mother and father. It helped reinforce to him that Jack and Alex really did love him, and that he was there's.

Henry seemed to notice Seth's change and demeanor, and knowing how sensitive the boy and the girl were, he speedily changed the subject. "What do you want me and your Aunt Mary to cook you tonight?" he asked instead.

Seth immediately brightened up. If there was anything he loved it was delicious food. "Tacos!" he burst out cheerfully and Seth could tell that Henry was having a hard time containing his laughter and amusement, for which he was immediately embarrassed for. Henry must have found his outburst adorable.

"Tacos?" Henry asked and the boy nodded. Henry then got up. "Right, then I'll tell Aunt Mary and we'll prepare it together for you." As Henry went to the door to leave he turned back again. "And Seth?" he reminded the boy.

Seth immediately turned to look at Henry, curious. "Yes?" he replied obediently.

"Don't scratch," Henry reminded him and exited.

The boy sighed as he heard the soft closing of the door. 'Don't scratch?' he thought to himself, Henry's words echoing in his mind. The soft smell of fresh vegetables cooking reached his nose and he knew immediately that his Aunt and Uncle were preparing him lunch. But he looked forward to dinner most because he loved tacos. 'Like I can't scratch!' he thought again, and immediately he reached down to resume scratching his feet.

(A few hours later)

(Sara Point of View)

Though she hadn't been here that long Sara appreciated Aunt Mary and Uncle Henry's hospitality, well at least the amount of hospitality the government would allow them to show, and even then she knew that they were pushing it for their sakes. Sara, even with all the chicken pox and everything, wondered what Henry's employees were thinking of him. Did they approve of the way he and his wife treated Seth and Sara? She wondered about this. Truth be told, she hadn't seen that many government agents apart from Henry and Mary, and she wondered if her aunt and uncle were purposely keeping them away.

Sara knew the risk that they were playing. She also knew that if word got out, Henry and Mary could be in a lot of trouble and it could ruin Jack and Alex's attempts to get him back. She wondered if this was part of the reason Henry and Mary were trying to keep such a low profile with them. If that was the case then she had good reason to fear that the government might take her and her brother away permanently, and not just from Jack and Alex, from Henry and Mary as well. They didn't like aliens being treated well and she was being treated rather well. So in a way it was a bad thing that Henry and Mary were treating her this well. But they knew that she needed it and so they did this for her and her brother. She appreciated it.

The itching hadn't subsided one bit and it was beyond annoying. Much as she loved dinner as she loved tacos, she was annoyed at constant, "Stop scratching!" and "You'll scratch your skin raw!" and tons of other soft approval for her and her brother to stop scratching those annoying little red bumps. She knew that they meant well and they knew that they were itching, but it was beyond annoying being told it constantly. She wished that they wouldn't remind her. But at least they loved her and didn't hate her or try to abuse her again. She admitted that things could be worse.

Still...

'Ugh!' she thought. She was supposed to be getting rest due to the fact that she was really sick. 'Why can't this stuff go away sooner?'

As she looked down at herself she saw that the bumps were still as present as ever and she frowned is discomfort, not sure how one earth she was going to get sleep with this stuff going on. And Aunt Mary and Uncle Henry had told her to get some sleep. But how?

Right as she was thinking on some things there was a soft knock on the door. Henry entered without waiting for her to say 'come in', a courtesy he couldn't allow due to the watchful eyes of the government and Sara was grateful that he hadn't accidentally entered when she was changing. "Hard time sleeping?" he questioned her when he saw how tired she was, yet how wide awake she was at the same time.

Sara nodded. "Need anything?" Henry queued her further. Sara shook her head. Upon this the man sighed. "I'm sorry that you're sick."

"There's nothing that you can do about that so you don't need to apologize," Sara murmured softly.

"But in some ways I do," Henry subtly implied about their past together, albeit a little too boldly for Sara's liking do to the fact that the government was probably watching them. She didn't want her chances to go home with Jack and Alex again ruined.

The girl looked away. "The past is the past."

"I guess what I'm asking for," Henry continued even though he noticed her discomfort on the subject. "Is for your forgiveness. What I'm saying is that I need your forgiveness so that I can move on, and so that I can know that our relationship will be better in the future, even if I can't be your uncle or father anymore."

At this Sara turned back to him, her eyes brimming with tears and emotions, forgetting all the possible danger of the government knowing what he said. Then again Henry was really careful and he was also in the know, unlike Jack and Alex, so he should know when it was safe to say these things and not. Should.

The girl had tears in her eyes, the need to let go and move beyond what happened clearly in them. Clearly Sara felt she needed to extend this forgiveness to so that she could heal and get better. Leaping out of bed she ran into his arms and embraced him, sobbing softly. "Of course I forgive you!" she whispered softly. "Of course! Uncle, you don't know how hard it's been on me! In truth I've needed this too!"

The two embraced each other and even Henry began shedding tears. "Shh, shh, my little girl," the man soothingly comforted her. "You will _**always**_ be my little girl, my little Sara."

How long they stood there Sara didn't know, but suddenly she felt as if tons of emotions were dropping away and peace and serenity were filling her soul. She _**felt**_ herself healing, literally _**felt**_ herself healing. It was a soothing and peaceful experience.

"You know," Henry whispered softly into her ears. "The trial's over. Your mom and dad are coming to pick you and Seth up soon, take you home."

Sara looked up quickly. "They won?!" she softly replied, excitement in her eyes.

Henry looked away, like he didn't want to say anything. Finally the man replied, "They didn't _**win**_ but the government felt threatened enough and they knew that it would cause more trouble to keep them and you than to let all of you go, so Jack and Alex are able to bring the two of you home. But they didn't win. Not perse."

"Oh," Sara replied unenthusiastically, and went back to hugging Henry. But regardless she was excited that she was going to get to go home and have a second chance at a life with Jack and Alex as her parents.

When Sara finally pulled back the tears that had stained her face had dried. She had been hugging Henry for a long time. She was glad that he wanted forgiveness and was willing to forgive her to. "What now?" she asked her uncle, not sure what to do.

Henry smiled. "Now we wait."

"Right," Sara replied. "Now we wait."

And so they waited.

**I'm sorry that this is a short chapter, but I really wanted to get this chapter up. So...**

**I'll leave what happens next for next time.  
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**Please read and review!  
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**And my next story to update will be The Caprican Experiment. Hopefully it will be sometime next month. Stick around for it! Review it to please!  
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**Til next time!  
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